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Souvenir 



Published by authority of . . . 

Idaho World's Fair 
Commissioner 



PRICE 50 CENTS 





IDAHO'S FIRST BUILDING 




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IDAHO WORLD'S FAIR BUILDING 



PUBLISHED FOR fiND BY AUTHORITY Olji-H-(>-^-l 3- 






IDAHO WORLD'S FAIR COMMISSIONER 



_PRICE 5Q CENTS 



ILLUSTRATED UNDER DIRECTION OF 
T. McWHORTER 



1893 

PIONEER PRESS COMPANY 

ST. PAUL, MINN. 






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JAMES M. WELLS. 



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^JT^OD JcjIOfN] 



CHE task of collecting an exhibit in the State of Idaho 
for the Columbian Exposition has not been an 
easy or an envious one. Beginning his labors fully 
a year behind every other state, and handicapped dur- 
ing the first year with the very small and inadequate 
appropriation of $20,000, the commissioner was obliged 
from the very outset to make the subject of economy a 
study rather than to devote his. energies to efficiency and 
rapidity of work; and it was not until an additional ap- 
propriation of $30,000 was made, on the first of Febru- 
ary, 1893, that the plans laid out by the commissioner 
for a proper representation of the state could be prose- 
cuted with anything like vigor or certainty. Whatever 
has been done in the interests of Idaho at the Columbian 
Exposition has been mainly accomplished since that date. 
And this appropriation was asked, not as the estimated 
amount it was believed to be necessary to successfully 
carry out so vast an undertaking, but it was the very 
highest sum which it was thought possible to obtain 
through the legislature. An additional $5,000 asked for 
would undoubtedly have proved fatal to the measure, and 
no money at all would have been appropriated. Experi- 
ence had already taught that the feeble powers of any one 
man were altogether inadequate to raise any considerable 
sum for World's Fair purposes by private or voluntary 
subscriptions, excepting, perhaps, through the liberality 
of a few individuals. But the task of collecting Idaho's 
exhibit has been rendered difficult for many reasons other 
than those given above. In the first place, there was very 
little material at hand with which to begin. Scarcely a 
county fair had ever been held in the state, and every- 
thing in the form of an exhibit had to be dug from the 
ground and taken from the stump. It must be borne 
in mind, in this connection, that there is not in the whole 
state an organization of any kind for the promotion of 
such a work; not a stockbreeders', agricultural, horti- 
cultural, pomological or other association existing any- 
where, and not a scientific man engaged in any of these 
studies or pursuits. Consequently the commissioner 
found at his command no collection made and no ma- 
chinery at his disposal ready to be set in motion, as in 
other states, for the better and more ready accomplish- 
ment of an undertaking far-reaching in its scope and 
promises, and of vast importance to the state, when viewed 
in the light of its probable results. In addition to the 
difficulties above enumerated, the commission has been 
called upon in the very limited time allowed for the work, 
to withstand the losses incident to two fires and two bank 
failures. In the first instance, many of the choicest 
exhibits from Larah County were destroyed when the 
town of Kendrick burned. Following this came the 
burning of a full carload of agricultural exhibits, taxid- 



ermy and paintings while in transit, and this, after every 
expense incident to their collection and shipment had 
been paid. While the intrinsic value of these exhibits 
would not count up into the thousands, still the loss to 
the state, inasmuch as they cannot be replaced, is very 
great, and can hardly be estimated by monied values. 
A pavilion for their reception in the Agricultural building 
had already been erected at great expense. ' Among 
other things in the car burned was a large oil painting 
by Mr. McMeekin of Salmon Falls. This painting was 
somewhat damaged by fire, but not necessarily destroyed. 
It had been loaned to the state for exhibition purposes. 
Other exhibits destroyed were from Latah, Nez Perce s 
Washington and Ada counties. The next great calamity 
was the failure of the bank at Wardner, in which the 
Ladies' Columbian Club of that place was victimized to 
the*amount of $500. This was a great loss to us as well 
as to the ladies of Wardner, it virtually being so much 
money taken from the state's limited appropriation. 
Following close upon the heels of this comes the still 
greater loss of $1,543.59, through the failure of the 
Columbian National Bank at Chicago. It was expected, 
and it is a fact, that exhibitors are filched and bled here 
with overcharges on every hand. Still, it was not ex- 
pected, and there seems to have been no way of antici- 
pating or guarding against wholesale robberies of this 
kind. 

When the labor and anxiety incident to the raising of 
the legislative appropriation is considered, and at the 
same time taking into account the lack of interest mani- 
fested by the people everywhere, the discouragements 
of the commission have been at times somewhat appall- 
ing, and only for the very liberal terms granted by the 
Union Pacific road, Idaho's exhibit at the World's Fair 
must have, in some respects, proven a failure. Some- 
thing like $5,000 of the state's appropriation had been 
paid to this road for freights on material for the Idaho 
state building. The long .distance from home, and the 
slow process of drawing warrants on the state treasury, 
made it impossible for the commissioner to meet his 
immediate and pressing obligations, after the losses 
by the bank, and there seemed to be no possibility 
of tiding over this emergency except through the 
assistance of the railroads. Accordingly the circum- 
stances were presented to President Clark of the 
Union Pacific, who, without hesitancy, indorsed a 
recommendation to Mr. J. A. Munroe, general traffic 
manager, for a rebate to the Idaho commission of 
all moneys paid for freights over their road, and the 
commissioner has already deposited to the credit of the 
state something over $5,000 on this account. This liber- 
ality on the part of the Union Pacific Company, just at this 



IDAHO=TH'E GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



critical juncture, has been of inestimable value to the 
state. Notwithstanding all the difficulties encountered, 
the work of Idaho's exhibit has gone steadily on, and 
today its complete and triumphant success is assured. 
At this writing (June ist) there are on an average from 
5,000 to 10,000 people passing through the Idaho state 
building every day in the week, viewing with wonder and 
astonishment its material and construction. While this 
is going on, fully as many more, with equal amazement 
and admiration, are viewing our exhibit of fruits at the 
Horticultural building, which is universally conceded to 
be one of the very best, if not the finest, exhibit of fruits 
at the World's Fair. Heretofore but little has been said 
of our mineral display, for the reason that circumstances 



have been such as to make it impossible to get the ex- 
hibit in place. To-day, however, the curtains are lifted, 
and over 7,000 specimens of the richest ores of the state, 
properly classified and displayed in an artistic manner, 
and surrounded by an elegant pavilion, are being ad- 
mired, criticised and analyzed by tens of thousands of 
visitors daily. Further down, and at the southern 
extremity of the grounds, Idaho is displaying the finest 
timbers to be seen from any state or country. It is a 
fact, then, that our little state, heretofore unknown, un- 
honored and unsung, is being heralded daily in favorable 
comment by thousands of people, and in every print, 
throughout the United States and the civilized world. 



COLUHBIAN COnniSSIONER FOR IDAHO. 



James M. Weels, Columbian Commissioner for Idaho, 
was born in Erie County, State of New York, but 
moved to Michigan with his parents at the early age of 
two years, where he was raised on a farm and educated 
in the common schools. Seized with the spirit of ad- 
venture he left school and crossed the plains in i860, re- 
maining at Virginia City, Nevada, something more than 
a year. On the eleventh day of August, 1861, he sailed 
for his home in Michigan, where, in December of that 
year, he enlisted as a private soldier in the Eighth Regi- 
ment of Michigan Cavalry. He participated in the 
celebrated Morgan raid through the states of Kentucky, 
Indiana and Ohio, being present at the capture of that 
noted rebel chieftain. He was also with his regiment 
through the campaigns of East Tennessee, Atlanta and 
Nashville, and was promoted meantime to the rank of 
captain. Captain Wells was twice a prisoner of war, and 
was entertained in three Southern prisons. He was one 
of the party to pass through the historic tunnel at Libby 
Prison, Richmond, Va., and was among the 48 prison- 
ers who made good their escape at that time. Return- 
ing to his regiment, he was captured near Athens, Ga. , 
in August, 1864, on the celebrated raid led by General 
Stoneman, for the purpose of releasing the Federal prison- 



ers at Macon and Andersonville. In common with 
many other officers of this command, Captain Wells was 
placed under fire of the Federal batteries at Charleston, 
S. C. From Charleston he was exchanged and mustered 
out at Pulaski, Tenn., July, 1865. In 1868 he emi- 
grated to Mississippi, receiving an appointment by the 
general government in the internal revenue service, and 
subsequently served as a writer on several different 
daily newspapers. From Mississippi, in 1877, the sub- 
ject of this sketch moved to Washington, D. C. , where 
he filled important positions in the War Department and 
United States Treasury under Secretaries McCreary, 
Sherman and Windom. In 1884, being broken in health 
from disease contracted while a prisoner of war, he emi- 
grated to Idaho and settled on a ranch, where he still 
lives. 

Mr. Wells was a member of the First Legislature of 
Idaho, where he served in the State Senate with honor 
and distinction. He was strongly urged to become a 
candidate for governor on the Republican ticket at the 
November election in 1892, but declined the nomination, 
preferring to carry out the work of representing Idaho 
at the Columbian Exposition. 



H' S T 



ORICAL. 



T 



HE State of Idaho comprises a part of the vast territory 
lying west of the Mississippi River acquired by cessions, 
by treaty, from France in the year 1803, and from Spain 
in 1S19. The superior right of Spain to territory west of the 
Rocky Mountains, adjacent to the -Pacific Coast, appears to 
have been recognized by the Treaty of Utrecht as early as the 
year 17 13, to which England, France and Spain were signing 
parties The right of Spain to the exclusive sovereignty to all 
the possessions she claimed on the Pacific Coast was guaran- 
teed to her. In 17S9 Spain erected fortifications on an island 
in Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound. By the Treaty of Escurial, 
signed in«i79o, the rights claimed by Spain were undisturbed, 
and England acquired no sovereign rights on the coast, but 
obtained for her subjects the same rights to become traders as 
those of other nations. 

Immediately after the cession by France, an expedition was 
organized, by order of President Jefferson, under the auspices 
of the United States Government, for the purpose of exploring 
the unknown regions between the Mississippi River and the 
Pacific Ocean. The expedition, in charge of Captains Meri- 
wether Lewis and William Clarke, of the United States Army, 
started in May, 1S04, and spent the winter on the Missouri 
River, in the present State of Montana. On Sept. n, 1S05, the 
party commenced the passage of the Bitter Root Mountains, 
and on the twentieth they reached an Indian village of the Nez 
Perces, about 15 miles from the South Fork of Clearwater 
River. On Nov. 14, 1805, the expedition, after much suffering 
for want of food and extreme hardships, arrived at the mouth 
of the Columbia River. Fortifications were erected on the 
south side of the river, a few miles from its mouth; the works 
were finished on the evening of Dec. 31, 1805. Here they 
remained until March 23, 1806, on which day, after posting a 
written notice of their overland exploration, the party started 
on its return trip over the same route it had come, and arrived 
at St. Louis in September, 1806. The doubtful claim of sover- 
eignty by the United States, by right of exploration and the 
discovery of and entrance into the Columbia River by Captain 
Gray of the ship Columbia of Boston in the year 1792, was, 
however, finally settled by treaty with Spain in 1819. 

To Captain Clarke is given the credit of being the first 
white man who trod Idaho's soil. In 1810 the Missouri Fur 
Company built Fort Henry, which was soon abandoned by 
that company. On Oct. 8, 181 1, Wilson P. Hunt with a party 
of 60 men, being an overland expedition belonging to 
Astor's Pacific Fur Company, arrived at Fort Henry. Here 
detachments remained, to be sent out in the Rocky Mountains 
to trap, with the fort as a supply station and concentration 
with their furs. This may be considered as the first white set- 
tlement made in the Territory of Idaho. Hunt with his party 
proceeded on his way to the coast, moving down the Snake 
River, and after suffering great hardships, privations and perils 
arrived at Astoria, Feb. 15, 1812. This attempt to make a 
permanent occupation on the coast ended in disaster by the 
capture of Fort Astoria, Dec. 12, 1813, by a British armed 
vessel, the United States being then engaged in war with 



Great Britain, and the name changed to Fort George. It was 
not until in the year 18 18 that the fort was redelivered to an 
agent of the United States. 

While it was generally believed that the Northwest was 
unfit for agricultural purposes, it was considered valuable for 
the furs which might be collected through trading with the 
natives and by trapping. After the disaster which befell the 
Pacific Fur Company it was not until the year 1823 that an- 
other effort was made to establish fur trading and trapping 
stations west of the Rocky Mountains. In that year W. H. 
Ashley crossed the mountains and returned to the States the 
same year; returning the following year to Green River, dis- 
covered Salt Lake, and erected a fort at Lake Ashley, where 
he left 100 men and returned to St. Louis. These successful 
ventures attracted others to a field so promising to the adven- 
turous. In 1825 Jedediah S. Smith crossed the mountains 
with 40 men and passed into California. In 1829 Major Pilcher 
traveled down Clarke's Fork to Fort Colville, thence up the 
Columbia River to its source, and returned to the States. In 
1832 Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville reached the Rocky Mountains; 
on Christmas, 1833, he started from camp, on Port Neuf 
River, on an expedition to Walla Walla. He reached Pow- 
der River Jan. 12, 1834; thence passed down Snake River, 
on the west, to Alpowa Creek; thence followed the old Nez 
Perce trail up stream across the Touchet and thence to 
Fort Walla Walla, where he arrived March 4, 1834. Two days 
after he started back with his Nez Perce guide and finally 
reached his camp of general rendezvous for his several ex- 
peditions. In the year 1835 he againstarted, with a formidable 
outfit,destined to the Willamette Valley, passing the Blue Moun- 
tains by way of the Grand Ronde Valley and the Umatilla 
River. In the year 1834 Nathaniel J. Wyeth of Boston led 
his second expedition with 60 men, crossed the Rocky Moun- 
tains, established Fort Hall, near the headwaters of Snake 
River, as an interior trading post, where he left 12 men and a 
stock of goods. This was undoubtedly the beginning of the 
first permanent white settlement in the limits of the present 
State of Idaho. Wyeth then passed down the Snake River 
and finally arrived at the mouth of the Willamette River, 
where he established Fort Williams. In the same year the 
Hudson Bay Company erected on Snake River, of poles, 
Fort Boise, but it was not occupied till the year 1835. This 
was afterward replaced by a more substantial structure of 
adobe. 

This attempt to establish trading stations in the North- 
west, like all preceding efforts, proved disastrous, financially, 
to the originators. The opposition of the powerful British 
Hudson Bay Company was too formidable to withstand, and 
the American posts were transferred to that company, Fort 
Hall passing into its possession also. This was the last effort 
made by American citizens to compete with that company 
for the native traffic. 

Though such were the results, as business enterprises and 
the field of traffic was abandoned to British subjects, the 
territory was not wholly given over to British rule. Accom- 



IDAHO -THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



panying the Wyeth expedition were four self-sacrificing 
spirited men, — Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shep- 
ard and P. L. Edwards, — who were sent out by the Methodist 
Missionary Board for the purpose of establishing a mission 
near the Columbia River. They selected a site, 60 miles 
above the mouth of the Willamette River, on which buildings 
were erected. It may be said that from the day of the arrival 
of the Wyeth expedition at its destination was begun the 
foundation of the future destiny and greatness of the North- 
west. Hitherto those who ventured across the desolate and 
rugged pathway to the great ocean were those hardy spirits 
whose sole purposes were to reap the rewards of barter, the 
trap and the gun; whose thoughts were not to cultivate and 
beautify the desert and the wilderness. Being in search of 
immediate results, they were wanderers over the vast domain, 
and their attachments were regulated by the prospects of 
pecuniary profit. But with the advent of these missionaries, 
endowed with stubborn and aggressive wills for the right and 
with American hearts, they were destined to group about 
them a people whose independent principles would instill 
them to grapple with an arbitrary and powerful foreign cor- 
poration backed by English power. They came not for gain 
merely, but for the more holy and beneficent purposes of 
making homes and surrounding themselves with such com- 
forts of civilization as a pioneer life would afford them, and to 
instruct the natives in the arts of agriculture and lead them in 
the paths of Christian duty, and over and above all should 
wave the Star-Spangled Banner of their country. Such were 
the class of pioneers, who could not fail to attract such emi- 
grants from the States necessary to build up states in a 
territory where its people are savages and their country a 
desolate wilderness. 

In 1836 there arrived at Fort Walla Walla Dr. Marcus 
Whitman and Rev. H. H. Spalding with their wives, and 
W. H. Gray, for the purpose of establishing missions under 
the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Missions. They 
came overland with wagons, horses, mules, cattle and such 
necessary articles as they could transport. Doctor Whitman 
selected a site near Fort Walla Walla and erected mission 
buildings, where he, his wife and eleven other white persons 
were murdered by the Indians, November, 1847. Rev. H. H. 
Spalding selected a site in the country of the Nez Perces, in 
a beautiful valley on Lapwai Creek, 2 miles from its mouth 
and about 12 miles from Lewiston. With the aid of the 
Indians, buildings were erected and occupied about Dec. 20, 
1836. This was the first mission established in Idaho. To 
this mission was brought and used the first printing press and 
material introduced in the Northwest territory. To the energy, 
patriotism and personal efforts of Doctor Whitman is due the 
defeat of the schemes of the Hudson Bay Company to secure 
all the territory north of the Columbia River to the sover- 
eignty of England, and to attract the attention of the govern- 
ment and the American people to the value of the great 
territory which had been so long neglected because thought 
to be worthless. Accidentally becoming apprised of the pur- 
poses of that company, with but little preparation, he immedi- 
ately started overland and reached the States in January, 1843. 
He was accorded interviews with President Tyler. Secretary 
of State Webster and members of Congress, in which he 
urged the importance of taking immediate action to extend 
the authority of the government over its territory, and save it 
from falling into the control of England. Surprised at the 
indifference of the heads of the government, who argued that 
the country was but barren deserts and rugged mountains, — 
unfit for agricultural purposes, to which emigration would never 
tend or seek, that it was not worth the expense of caring for, — 
Doctor Whitman labored to convince them of their erroneous 
ideas of the vast country, which had been industriously stim- 
ulated and encouraged by the Hudson Bay Company. To 
prove that their views were unfounded, he agreed to guide a 
train of emigrants to the coast. President Tyler promised to 



await the result of the experiment before concluding, finally, 
thesettlement of the boundary line. Starting from the rendez- 
vous on the frontier, guided by Doctor Whitman, 875 persons, 
with their wagons loaded with the most necessary articles, 
and 1,300 head of cattle, reached the Columbia River in Sep- 
tember, 1843. 

The success of this expedition of emigrants to the Pacific 
Coast created a sentiment of enthusiasm which led to the 
treaty, signed June 15, 1846, establishing the boundary line, 
and the assumption by the National Government of its au- 
thority over all the territory south of the forty-ninth parallel. 
The tide of emigration thus begun, it continued with a steady 
but certain flow, so that by the census made in 1849 there 
were 9,083 persons in the territory. 

In the year 1855 treaties were made with the Nez Perces 
and with the Flathead Nation, comprising the Flatheads, 
Kootenai and Pend d'Oreille tribes, by which those tribes 
relinquished all their lands except the reservations. These 
treaties by provisions therein were not obligatory upon either 
party until they were ratified by the President and Congress. 
As they were not ratified by the Senate until March 8, 1859, 
the country was not legally open to white settlement previous 
to the date of ratification. To this neglect on the part of the 
government maybe attributed much of the causes which led 
to the outbreaks and depredations by the Indians in the years 
1855 and 1856. The encroachments of the whites upon the 
territories of the Indians caused jealousies and suspicions on 
the part of the latter that the government was pla*ying false 
with them by failing to perform the treaty agreements. In 
i860 a party of miners from Walla Walla discovered gold in 
what afterward became the celebrated Oro Fino mining coun- 
try. This was followed by a rush of emigration, and the 
discoveries of Rhodes' Creek, Elk Creek, Powder River and 
the Salmon River mines following in quick succession, the 
territory now comprising the State of Idaho became famous, 
and towns rapidly sprang up in the miner's wake. 

In 1863 the first party of miners entered the Boise Basin. 
These were attacked by Shoshone and Bannock Indians and 
forced to retire. This led to sanguinary contests for suprem- 
acy. There was also a number of renegade Indians, who hav- 
ing been expelled from their tribes held no tribal relations, 
whose repeated depredations on the settlements led to their 
summary punishment in the winter of 1863. In 1877 occurred 
the trouble with the non-treaty Indians of the Nez Perce tribe 
under Chief Joseph, which ended with their capture and re- 
moval to Indian Territory. In 1878 and 1879 the Bannock and 
other tribes of lesser note in Southern Idaho began hostilities 
against the growing settlements, but they were captured by 
the troops after a short campaign and placed on reservations. 
Since 1879 there has been but little, if any, fears from Indians 
by the settlers. They have been placed on reservations and 
are, though slowly, acquiring habits tending toward civiliza- 
tion. 

With the influx of mining experts and prospectors the 
great wealth which lay hidden in the mountains and valleys 
became known abroad, immigration soon demanded a terri- 
torial government, and the Territory of Idaho was created 
from parts of Washington, Dakota and Nebraska, by act 
of Congress passed March 13, 1863. In reorganizing the 
territories in 1868, Montana was wholly created out of Idaho 
and also a large part of Wyoming; Idaho retaining its present 
limits. As Idaho's unlimited mineral resources and the value 
of her agricultural lands became developed and known abroad, 
her population increased with a steady growth. Its peo- 
ple, realizing the importance of a state government, applied to 
Congress for admission to the Union. In pursuance to an act 
of Congress the people's representatives met in convention 
and submitted a constitution, which was ratified by the people 
at an election, and by proclamation of President Harrison 
Idaho was declared a state under the constitution of the 
United States. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




Willis H. Pettit 

Geo. M. Parsons. 

Joseph Pinkham. 

Frank A. Fenn. 



IDAHO OFFICIALS. 

James F. Curtis. 

Gov. Wm. J. McConnell 

Frank C. Ramsey. 



Chas. S. Kingsley. 

Wm. C Hill. 

B Byron Lower. 

Joseph Perrault. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



W&' 







PUBLIC BUILDINGS AT BOISE. 
U S. Assay Office. Public School. State House 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




PUBLIC BUILDINGS AT BOISE. 

No. i — City Hall. No. 2 — Pinney's Opera House. No. 3 — St. Margaret's School. No. 4 — Boise National Bank and I. 0. O. F. Blocks 

No. 5 — Natatorium. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 





THE WILLSON PLACER MINE. 



IDAHO-THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



DESCRIPTIVE. 

CHE State of Idaho comprises the territory lying between 
British Columbia on the north, the Territory of Utah and 
the State of Nevada on the south, the states of Montana 
and Wyoming on the east and the states of Oregon and Wash- 
ington on the west. It extends about 410 miles north and south, 
with a width varying from 44 to 306 miles, containing 86,294 
square miles, or 55,228,160 acres, — an area nearly as large as 
the states of New York and Pennsylvania. When Congress 
created it a territory, March 3, 1863, it embraced 325,000 square 
miles. By act passed May 25, 1S6S, creating the territories of 
Montana aud Wyoming, Idaho was reduced to its present 
limits. 

A bird's-eye view of the surface of the state would repre- 
sent a wedge-shaped plateau with a rugged surface of valley, 
700 feet above sea level in the extreme west, and hills and 
mountains attaining the height of 10,000 feet in the extreme 
east; and flowing among the craggy mountains, fertile hills 
and valleys, innumerable streams of clear, pure and cool water, 
rushing over rocks and precipices of great height, as if hasten- 
ing to supply the thirsty lowlands, and then rushing onward 
to mingle its waters with those of the broad Pacific. 
riOLNTAINS. 

The word Idaho, given to the state, is an Indian word or 
term which interpreted signifies "Gem of the Mountains." 
This is literally true applied to Idaho. Under its rugged sur- 
face is hidden the richest minerals and valuable gems, awaiting 
the enterprise of man to utilize its wealth. Of the general sur- 
face of the state, a writer says: "Prof. F. V. Hayden, in his 
geological survey of the territories, in referring to the surface 
of a large portion of Idaho, describes it as literally crumpled 
or rolled up in one continuous series of mountain ranges, fold 
after fold. Perhaps even better examples of these remarkable 
folds may be found in the country drained by the Salmon River 
and its branches, where lofty ranges of mountains, for the most 
part covered with limestones and quartzites of the carbonifer- 
ous age, wall in the little streams. None of our published maps 
convey any idea of the almost innumerable ranges. We might 
say that from longitude no degrees to 118 degrees, a distance 
of over 500 miles, there is a range of mountains on an average 
every 10 to 20 miles. Sometimes the distance across the range 
in a straight line, from the bed of a stream in one valley to the 
bed of the stream in the valley beyond the range, is not more 
than from 5 to 8 miles, while it is seldom more than 20 miles. 
From these statements," says the Professor, "which we believe 
to be correct, the reader may form some conception of the vast 
amount of labor yet to be performed to explore, analyze and 
locate on a suitable scale these hundreds of ranges of moun- 
tains, each one of which is worthy of a name." 

If this should be considered an exaggerated description, it 
is nevertheless true that Idaho is a mountain state. Of the 
mountain ranges the Cceur d'Alene and the Bitter Root are 
in the north; part of the latter range with the crest of the 
Rocky and Wahsatch Mountains in the southeast form the east 
boundary of the state. The spurs from the ranges, especially 
the Rocky Mountains, are diffused well over the state. The 
Boise, Wood River, Salmon River and Sawtooth ranges occupy 
the central part, and the Owyhee in the southwest are the 
more prominent. 

RIVERS. 

With the exceptiqn of a few streams that flow from a small 
section in the southeast part of the state, which find their out- 
let in the great Salt Lake Basin, the rivers of Idaho contribute 
their waters to swell the great Columbia. Idaho can enumer- 
ate its rivers by scores. The most important are the Snake, 
Clearwater, Spokane and Pend d'Oreille. The sources of the 
Snake are near those of the Yellowstone in the Rocky Moun- 
tains in Wyoming, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. Entering 



Idaho, gathering the waters of its numerous tributaries, its 
torrents flow southwardly about 500 miles, sweeping westerly, 
with a graceful bend to the south turns northwardly, marking 
the westerly limits of the state, until it reaches Lewiston, thus 
describing, roughly, a great arc of a circle. Thence it swerves 
westerly into the State of Washington, and sweeps onward in 
its majestic course to deposit its waters into the Columbia. 

The volume of water held and discharged by the Snake is 
enormous; in places the depths' are so great that soundings to 
the depth of 240 feet and more have failed to reach bottom. 
It is navigable 150 miles above itsjunction with Clarke's Fork, 
which was the original for the Columbia north of Snake River. 
Its total length is nearly 1,000 miles. 

The Salmon, Weiser, Payette, Boise and Wood rivers, 
which drain the central and southern part of the state, flow 
into the Snake River from the north. Entering Snake River 
from the south, and draining the great county of Owyhee, are 
the Bruneau and the Owyhee rivers. 

In the north are the Clearwater, which empties into the 
Snake at Lewiston, and Cceur d'Alene, which flows into the 
lake of that name. The Spokane, which is the outlet of Lake 
Cceur d'Alene, passes into the State of Washington and enters 
the Columbia. Clarke's Fork, flowing into Idaho from the 
Rocky Mountains in Montana, empties into Pend d'Oreille 
Lake and thence, under the name of Pend d'Oreille River, 
empties into the Columbia River; and the Cceur d'Alene and 
St. Joseph rivers empty into Lake Cceur d'Alene. The Koo- 
tenai is also an important stream tributary to the Columbia. 

Mountainous regions are noted for their numerous springs, 
which is also true of Idaho. From the foothills to the moun- 
tains everywhere flows springs of water clear as crystal and 
ice-cold or warm and hot, which are the sources of the streams 
which supply the greater rivers. Many of these springs send 
forth immense volumes of water and supply the cities and 
tow ns with an abundance of pure water. South from Mountain 
Home may be seen one of the wonderful springs which has 
burst from the palisades of the Snake, and a river of water 
plunges with terrific force into the torrents below, a depth of 
several hundred feet. Many springs possess valuable medicinal 
qualities, and are sought with much favor by invalids. 
VALLEYS. 

It is estimated that within the state there are 13,000 square 
miles of valley land situated at an elevation of less than 3,000 
feet, 10,000 between 3,000 and 4,000, 22,000 between 4,000 and 
5,000 and 19,000 square miles between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. 

Robert E. Strathorn, Esq., prepared the following list of 
the prominent valleys, with their length and breadth : 

Length. Breadth. 

Name and Location of Valley. Miles. Miles. 

South Fork of Snake River, Eastern Idaho 30 2 to 4 

Salt River Valley, Eastern Idaho 20 1 to 2 

Bear River Valley, Eastern Idaho 40 3 to 5 

Snake Valley, North Fork, Faslern Idaho 60 2 to 10 

Blackfoot Valley, Eastern Idaho 20 2 to 5 

Round Valley, Eastern Idaho 30 8 to 12 

Wood River Valley, Central Idaho 50 1 to 2 

Camas Prairie, Central Idaho 80 iS to 25 

Boise Valley, Western Idaho 60 2 to 6 

Payette Valley, Western Idaho 75 2 to 15 

Weiser Valley, Western Idaho 40 2 to 5 

Lemhi Valley, Northeastern Idaho 70 3 to 6 

Pahsamari Valley, Northeastern Idaho 25 1 to 5 

Northern Camas Prairie, North Idaho 30 20 to 25 

I'otlatch Valley, North Idaho 25 10 to 15 

Palouse Valley, North Idaho 20 5 to 10 

St. Joseph Valley, North Idaho 15 5 to 10 

The above list does not include all the valleys in the state ; 
there are numerous others, where pleasant homes in beautiful 
vales, nestled in the hills, where settlers can establish ranches 
for grazing sheep, horses and cattle, or for farming purposes. 
The soil of the valleys is surprisingly rich in power to promote 
vegetation, and is capable of producing large crops for an 
indefinite time without fertilizers. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



LAKES. 

Nearly every county in Idaho has its lake with its placid 
waters surrounded with Nature's parks. Lakes of every de- 
scription abound in the mountain ranges. 

Kootenai County can boast of some of the finest lakes and 
picturesque scenery in the world. In her territory rests Cceur 
d'Alene, Pend d'Oreille, Kanisku, Cocolalla and numerous 
smaller lakes. Cceur d'Alene Lake is about 30 miles long and 
a varying width from 2 to 4 miles. A line of steamers ply 
regularly from Cceur d'Alene City to the old mission. Its 
waters are clear and cool and abound in fish. The banks are 
mountainous, covered with timber. The Cceur d'Alene Indian 
Reservation surrounds it on the north, west and south. The 
Cceur d'Alene, St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers flow into it, and 
the Spokane is the outlet. 

Lake Pend d'Oreille is about 60 miles in length and a width 
varying^frorn 3 to 15 miles. Though classed as a lake, it is, in 
fact, but a broadening of the Clarke's Fork, whose rushing 
waters sweep down from its mountain gorges to find a path- 
way along the verdure-clad mountains, which present an en- 
chanting panorama that strikes the visitor with awe, wonder 
and admiration. A trestle 8,400 feet in length crosses a neck 
of the lake, on which the Northern Pacific trains pass, from 
the car windows of which fine views of the unsurpassed natural 
scenery may be obtained. 

Kanisku Lake, in the northern part of the county, is about 
20 miles long and 10 miles wide, and is located in a region 
hitherto unexplored. The recent construction of the Great 
Northern Railway has created an interest in Northern Idaho 
which must result in settlements and further development of 
that region. 

The people of Lewiston find a charming resort in Lake 
Waha. Though small, it is sought for pleasure and pastime, 
which is greatly enhanced by its abundance of fish. An en- 
tranced writer says of it: " Nothing we have ever seen can 
exceed the tranquil beauty of this sylvan, this idyllic scene, 
with its mountain solitudes unbroken by discordant sound, and 
its wealth of charming landscapes and xanthic skies." 

Payette Lake, the source of the Payette River, situated in 
Boise County, is a favorite resort for the people of Boise City 
and neighborhood. Surrounded by mountains, it is 10 miles 
long and 5 miles in width, and is particularly noted for its 
trout, redfish and whitefish. It is of unknown depth. Sound- 
ings of 2,600 feet have failed to reach the bottom. 

So numerous are the lakes in Idaho that more space than 
can be allotted to this work would be required. Many of them 
are noted for their picturesque landscape and beauty. 

CLIMATE. 

It is well known that high altitudes affect the temperature 
and to a certain degree lower elevations. Therefore, that the 
mountain ranges and their ramifications over the State of Idaho 
make it a cold and inhospitable climate, is believed by those 
who have not become familiar with the peculiar conditions 
which operate to give Idaho a climate, taken altogether, one 
of the finest in the world, where health is marked higher than 
any other state in the Nation. As the State of Idaho is in the 
same latitude as France, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal, it is 
subject to oceanic influences similar to those which are exerted 
on the Atlantic Coast of Europe and the British Isles. As the 
Gulf Stream crossing the Atlantic, carrying its heated waters 
and diffusing its warmth to those countries, so, in like manner, 
are the lands adjacent to the Pacific Ocean warmed by the 
great Japan current (Kuro Siva). This mighty stream bearing 
directly against the American shores warms the atmosphere 
passing over it, and the genial balmy Chinook winds carry 
their modifying influence far inland, even into Montana. 

To emphasize these facts, follow the isothermal lines which 
mark the northern limit of wheat production. Starting near 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, at latitude 50 degrees, 



thence running in a northwesterly direction across the conti- 
nent, when directly north of Idaho it will be found that the 
northern limit has increased and is nearly 1,000 miles north of 
the extreme northern boundary of this state, the cause of 
which is the influence of the current as stated. A few com- 
parisons may be pertinent to further illustrate the isothermal 
difference between the temperature east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains and that on the west side. The average mean tempera- 
ture in Northern Idaho is 56 degrees, a milder showing by 5 
degrees than is made by Ohio, milder by 10 degrees than Iowa, 
and milder by 12 degrees than Maine and New Hampshire. 
Boise City, in Western Central Idaho, with an altitude much 
greater than Lewiston, being 2,Soo feet, has.an average temper- 
ature of 51 degrees, the same as Ohio, and 4 degrees warmer 
than Connecticut. The rain and snow fall at Lewiston is about 
24 inches; at Boise City it is about 12. At the latter place the 
lowest record during seven consecutive winters was 12 degrees 
belowzero in the month of January, and the highest 108 degrees 
in July. The United States Signal Office reports that the mer- 
cury sank below zero only four times during one period of five 
years. The prevailing winds are south-southwest, averaging 
12 miles an hour, the greatest velocity not exceeding 30. 

Boise City has been selected as a fair representative of the 
average temperature of the agricultural sections. The more 
elevated mining districts have a lower temperature, with a 
greater snowfall and as harsh winters as are experienced in the 
Alleghany or Blue Ridge Mountains. But the best authorities 
on climatology agree that in the dry, rarefied atmosphere of 
Idaho and the mountainous regions on the east there is a dif- 
ference of 20 degrees in the intensity of heat and cold in favor 
of those regions, when compared with the raw and humid 
atmosphere of the Atlantic Coast; so that a temperature of 100 
degrees in Idaho is only equal in effects upon the system to 
one of 85 degrees in Boston or New York, or the extreme cold 
temperature at Boise of 12 degrees below zero is endured as 
that of 8 degrees above at any point in the Eastern States. 
Hon. E. A. Stevenson, late governor of the territory, refer- 
ring to this peculiarity of its climate, says: "The lowest tem- 
perature in the history of the Boise Signal Station was — 27.8 
degrees, on Jan. 16, 1888. At this time the signal officer 
regularly walked from his office to his residence and back 
without an overcoat, and he noticed many other men on the 
streets without overcoats. Such habits are very possible in 
the exceptionally fine climate of Idaho. This occurred during 
the twenty days when 1,000 persons froze to death between 
the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. Rarely ever 
does the temperature fall to zero. This highly oxygenated 
atmosphere is specially adapted to the cure of catarrh, con- 
sumption and many diseases in which a cure depends upon a 
purification of the blood. At this date (October 9th) there has 
been no frost. The most tender vines and flowers are as vigor- 
ous and fresh as in the spring." 

Open-air work is performed every day in the year; sun- 
stroke and hydrophobia are unknown in the state. The popu- 
lation who live on the mines and in the stock ranges and are 
predominant in numbers will shelter in the rudest and most 
fragile constructions the year round, and a case of freezing 
rarely if ever occurs. 

Cloudy days are an exception and the clear sunshine is the 
rule. Idaho averages 260 clear days free from clouds and 
shows 300 fair days against 191 fair days in Boston, 170 at Buf- 
falo and Chicago. Of 600 cyclones reported by the United 
States Signal Service during five years, not one occurred in 
Idaho. Floods and storms are unknown in the state. Rarely 
does rain fall during harvest time, and the absence of showers 
is not felt, because of the beneficial distribution of lands and 
streams suitable for irrigation; hence loss of crops by disas- 
trous floods or droughts would be considered phenomenal. 
The snowfall in the valleys is light, rarely enough for sleighing 
in many parts of the state. 



[DAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



HEALTH. 

From the statement of the average temperature it will be 
seen that Idaho compares favorably with her sister states in 
the matter of climate; but with her peculiar conformation, her 
location and geological formation, the influence which they 
exert from a sanitary point, Idaho stands pre-eminent. Vital 
statistics show that Idaho has no equal in the United States, 
and probably none elsewhere. The statistics of mortality in 
the United States, collected by the Census Bureau, confirm 
this statement, as will be seen from the following table, which 
gives the exact figures from the census report: 

Idaho ... 0.33 

Alabama 1.0S 

Arizona 2.61 

Arkansas 1.26 

California 1.61 

Florida 1.21 

-ja lis 

Illinois 1.33 

Indiana 1.03 

Iowa 0.S1 

Kansas 1.25 

Kentucky 1.09 

Louisiana 2.00 

Maine 1.23 

Maryland 1.24 

Massachusetts 1.77 

Michigan 0.94 

Minnesota 0.S0 

Mississippi 1. 1 1 

Missouri 1.63 

Montana 0.90 

New Hampshire 1.35 

New Jersey 1.17 

New Mexico 1.28 

Colorado 0.94 

Connecticut 1.26 

Dakota 0.71 

Delaware 1.25 

District of Columbia 1.53 

New York 1.58 

Nebraska 0.81 

Nevada 1.45 

North Carolina 0.9S 

Ohio 1. n 

Oregon 0.69 

Pennsylvania 1.49 

Rhode Island 1.26 

South Carolina 1.05 

Tennessee 1.13 

Texas 1-37 

Utah L03 

Vermont 1.07 

Virginia 1.24 

Washington 0.93 

West Virginia 0.91 

Wisconsin 0.94 

Wyoming 0.S1 

Scan the figures which the table presents. Florida, Cali- 
fornia and Colorado, states endowed with genial climates 
which approach perpetual spring and summer, the favorite 
resorts whence tens of thousands, seeking a renewal of their 
impaired health, flee in the hope of restoration; where the 
most eminent of the medical profession in the Eastern States 
unite in directing multitudes for the same purpose, present an 
unfavorable comparison with the health-restoring climate of 
Idaho. Florida shows a mortality nearly three times greater 
than Idaho, California nearly five times greater and Colorado 
nearly three times greater. 

Again, refer to the following tables of the mortality of the 
United States Army at the several military stations distributed 
over the country. It is well known that the troops in the army 
are subjected to the same conditions and surroundings, and 
have the same habits in like proportions everywhere, more 
than any other class of people. Wherever their place of 
abode and whatever the climate, their food, clothing and 
medical attendance are identically the same. A comparison 
of mortality of persons under such similarity of conditions is 
of a higher value in estimating the actual healthfulness of each 
region than that obtained in the usual manner. 



The percentages of death from disease to each 1,000 sol- 
diers in the different military districts of the United States as 
reported by the Surgeon General, the average of many years, 
are : 

Deaths Each Year 
Localities. from Diseasf. 

Gulf States 22.50 

Atlantic Coast States 17.83 

Arizona « 12. n 

Pennsylvania and Michigan 6.05 

New Mexico 7.77 

Montana 5.62 

California 6,88 

Dakota 4.76 

Wyoming 4.71 

Idaho 3.74 

During the years 1868 and 1869 the number of cases of sick- 
ness (not death) by malarial fever occurring in an equal num- 
ber of soldiers in the different departments show the following 
proportions : 

Department of the East 30 

Department of the South 60 

Department of the Lakes 50 

New Mexico, Indian Territory, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri, over . . 40 

Wyoming, Nebraska and Utah 20 

Montana, Dakota and Minnesota, nearly 10 

Department of the Columbia (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) .... 10 

Department of California 20 

Department of Arizona 160 

Continuing, we may select the mortality occasioned by the 
great destroyers of human life, consumption and other respira- 
tory diseases. In every i,ooo soldiers there die annually of 
consumption, pneumonia, etc.: 

In Florida 2.75 

Texas . , 3 

New Mexico 3.15 

California, a little more than 3 

Idaho, only 1.6 

From these statistics, one taken from the inhabitants gen- 
erally throughout the state, and the other from the military in 
their respective departments, it is conclusively shown that the 
State of Idaho stands first and is the very healthiest part of 
the United States. 

We may go further, and Idaho will bear comparison with 
the most healthful favored country in the world. Italy, South- 
ern France and Algiers, to which invalids are sent, both civil 
and military statistics show a much higher mortality than 
Idaho. In presenting the figures on the subject treated fair- 
ness has been observed. Particular years have been selected, 
not that they favor a theory, but because they are obtainable 
and are in form to be compared. During the years from i860 
to 1876 the death rate per annum from all diseases in the Ital- 
ian Army was about n in each 1,000; among the French Army 
stationed in the south of France in 1872 it was 10 in 1,000; in 
the French Army in Algiers during the years 1863-64-66-70 it 
was 14 50. Comparing these with the death rate in Idaho from 
1868 to i8Sr, which was only 3.75 in 1,000 by all diseases, the 
latter is healthier than the most highly extolled sections of 
Europe. 

Of diseases of the respiratory organs, including consump- 
tion, pneumonia, etc., we have among the soldiers in the south 
of France (including the health resorts of Nice, Mentone, etc.), 
for the year 1872, an average death rate by these diseases of 
2.4 per 1,000 annually. In the French Army in Algiers during 
the years 1863-64-66 it was by these diseases more than 3 in 
1,000 annually. In the Italian Army during the years 1867-68- 
69-74-75-76 the deaths by the same diseases (consumption, 
etc.) averaged nearly 4 in i.oco, while in Idaho the mortality 
by these diseases from 1876 to 1881 was less than 1 in 1,000 
annually — still maintaining her position as the most healthful 
locality. 

Continuing the examination of mortality statistics, it is 
found that the records of the British medical departments do 
not detract, but confirm, the claim that Idaho has the health- 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



iest country in the world. English soldiers are distributed all 
over the world, and the record represents the healthfulness 
and the unhealthfulness of climate in portions of all quarters of 
the globe. So that the British official military records are 
especially valuable. 

At the British station of Gibraltar, the Ionian Islands and 
Malta, in the sanitary zone of the Mediterranean, the average 
death rate by all diseases during the years from 1859 to 1879 
was about 7.5, 8.4 and 10.5 respectively in each 1,000 troops 
per annum ; and by respiratory diseases, including consump- 
tion, pneumonia, etc., of 2 in 1,000, being more than twice as 
great as in Idaho. In Australia the deaths by all diseases were 
12 in each 1,000 troops annually, and by respiratory diseases 5 
in 1,000. In New Zealand, of 8.75 by all diseases and nearly 
3 per 1,000 by respiratory diseases. These are exceeded 
greatly in Japan, China and the East Indies, having a mortality 
from 14 to 25 in each 1,000 troops. In the West Indies, by all 
diseases, from 10 to 12 and 13 in 1,000, and respiratory diseases 
over 2 per annum. In England the mortality is about 8 in 
1,000 from all diseases, and from respiratory diseases over 3.5. 
Coming into Canada it is between 6 and 7 per 1,000 by all dis- 
eases, and 2 by respiratory diseases. Continuing west into 
British Columbia, north and adjoining Idaho, where the climate 
is similar to that of Northern Idaho, the death rate per annum 
for the four and a half years the British troops were there was 
a little over 3 in 1,000 by all diseases, being almost the same as 
among the soldiers in Idaho in the Department of the Co- 
lumbia. 

The reader, after examining the recorded facts and experi- 
ences from all quarters of the globe, must arrive at the con- 
viction that Idaho, and the adjacent territory extending from 
the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, is the healthiest 
region i?i the world, so far as positive and reliable evidence 
shows. 

TIMBER. 

The traveler who for the first time enters Idaho and crosses 
the state by way of the Union Pacific Railway, is unfavorably 
impressed, after traveling the monotonous sage plains which 
stretch out far to the right and to the left, little dreaming that 
beyond in the north begins a region covered with timber that, 
the further it is penetrated the greater is the wonder and 
admiration experienced by the beholder. The forest area of 
Idaho is computed to contain 7,000,000 acres. Throughout the 
central, northern and eastern part of the state the timber lands 
possess a growth much heavier than in the timbered states of 
the East, while in the remaining sections the timber supply is 
equal to that of most of the prairie states. 

From careful estimates from eighteen different parts of the 
state, from data furnished by Messrs. Williams and Paul, statis- 
ticians, and from Doctor Brewster's "Forests of America," the 
area of these woodlands may be, approximately, safely placed 
as follows : Ten thousand square miles contain over 500 acres 
of timber to the square mile ; 12,000 square miles from 360 to 
500 acres; 5,000 square miles from 240 to 360 acres ; 15,000 
square miles from 120 to 240 acres ; 13 500 square miles from 
10 to 120 acres. Leaving the treeless plains in Southern Idaho, 
extensive timber forests will be found in Boise, Lemhi, Custer 
and Alturas counties. It is estimated that the amount of mer- 
chantable timber in the region of the upper waters of the Boise 
River, its tributaries, excluding the South Fork, will reach 
from 80,000,000 to 90,000,000 feet. It is claimed by experts 
that the South Fork is much more heavily timbered than the 
above estimated section of the Boise. These forests extend 30 
or 40 miles into the mountains, and abound in fir, white pine 
and cottonwood. The same timber is found in abundance on 
the tributaries of the Upper Salmon River. 

In Idaho County, on the Salmon and Craig's Mountains, is 
found an extensive body of timber extending to Snake River 
near the mouth of Salmon River and across the Clearwater, 
about 60 miles. This belt of timber is from 5 to 10 miles wide, 



and consists in part of white and yellow pine, red and yellow 
fir and white cedar. This body of timber is of large growth 
and valuable for lumbering purposes. Spruce and tamarack 
are found on Lolo Creek. Yew trees a foot in diameter are 
found on the upper part of the Clearwater. White pine logs 
10 feet in diameter and 100 feet in length have been rafted 
down the Clearwater, furnishing the finest quality of lumber 
for finishing purposes. 

Shoshone and Kootenai counties, in the extreme northern 
part of the state, are heavily timbered. Cceur d'Alene County 
also posseses fine woodland with much valuable timber. The 
Pend d'Oreille forests extend in all directions from the lake, 
covering an area over 100 miles square. In these forests stand 
huge monarchs, whose tops reach the height of 200 feet; the 
bull pine, white pine, tamarack and fir predominating, while 
the cedar attains marvelous heights and thickness. The 
Spanish moss is seen hanging in long, graceful festoons from 
many of the trees, adding variety to the somber scene. "This 
superb forest of the Pend d'Oreille," observes a writer in the 
Century Magazine , "is a vast lumber preserve for future gen- 
erations. The pineries of Michigan and Minnesota look like 
open parks compared with it. Nowhere else in the United 
States, save on the western slopes of the western mountains 
in Washington, can be found such a prodigious amount of tim- 
ber to the acre. 

The products of the Payette forests, which are among the 
finest in Central Idaho, find ready market along the Union 
Pacific Railway, and furnish a supply to the demand for build- 
ing and other purposes all over Southern Idaho. 

SOIL. 

The soils of Idaho are much of the same general nature as 
those which are found in all the volcanic regions of the North- 
west. They are composed of decayed, volcanic matter and 
the disintegration, through ages, of lava, basaltic and other 
rocks, which form the richest producing soil, and the most 
enduring under cultivation in the world. Soils vary according 
to location, and in Idaho are of four classes: 

First — The mountain soil, especially in the timbered sec- 
tions, is exceedingly rich in vegetable mould, and is deep and 
black. 

Second — Plains and plateau soils contain all the elements 
required for the production of vegetation. It is estimated that 
three-fourths of the arable lands of Idaho are of this class. 

Third — The valley soils are of the highest excellence. 
They consist of the accumulations on the sides of the moun- 
tains of decaying vegetable matter for unknown ages, and 
will produce, unsurpassed, all products which are adapted to 
the climate of the state. 

Fourth — An alkali soil which is superabundant in a soluble 
salt, deleterious to most kinds of vegetation. The lands with 
this soil are limited in extent. Its natural products are grease- 
wood and salt grass, which are readily eaten by cattle. Deep 
plowing and leaching by irrigation will in time free the soil of 
much of the injurious salts, when it will be found to be highly 
fertile, producing fine crops of the cereals. 

The best results from any of these soils where destitute of a 
sufficiency of moisture cannot be had without the application 
of water either by rainfall or by irrigation. In many sections 
surprisingly large crops are obtained without irrigation, the 
soil being adapted to retain the moisture absorbed from the 
slight rainfall, snows and atmosphere, and generously supply- 
ing it to the growing vegetation. The dreary sagebush plains, 
touched with the life-giving waters from the springs and moun- 
tain streams, give astonishing evidence of the vegetative 
powers which have long awaited the advent of civilized enter- 
prise. And it is for man to lead the crystal waters from the 
lakes and streams to feed the thirsty soil by means of irri- 
gation, and receive his reward in the rich returns of wonderful 
crops of grains, fruits, vegetables, in fact all vegetation adapted 
to the climate. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




Lieut. Gov. F. B. Willis. 
Speaker D. T. Miller. 
James H. McPherson. 
Norman M. Ruick. 
John L. Underwood. 
Henry H Bangs. 
John I. Mitcham. 
Wm. J. Bogard 
Swan A. Anderson. 
H H. Clay. 
J. E. Miller. 
B. F. Morris 
J. W. Ballentine. 
Rufus A. Caldwell. 



the hd^ieio 

15 T. W. Girton. 



IjEGKESILjJL.TTT IRE. 



2 1 
22 
23 
2 4 
2 5 
26 

27 
28 



John S. Barrett. 
John D. Benson. 
Alex. Robertson. 
P. Gaffney. 
George J. Lewis. 
J. G. Watts. 
Robert Campbell. 
C. G. Cartmell 
J. M.rrill. 
Walter Clevinger. 
Wm. R. King. 
James J. McCarthy. 
E S. Suydam. 



29 
3° 
3' 
3 2 
33 

34 

35 
36 
37 
38 

39 

40 

4' 
4 2 



F. W. Hunt. 
John G. Brown. 

F. C. Moss. 
George H. Stewart. 

G. F. Fletcher. 
Ralph A. Cowden. 
Alex. Mayhew. 

E. J. Turner. 
Fred L. Burgan. 
William Allison. 
John F. Allington. 
Paul P. Lawson. 
Charles Helm. 
John C. Greaves. 



4T 


J. Morris Howe. 


44 


Green White. 


45 


Henry F. Johnson. 


46 


Hugh F. McCarte 


47 


Robert Neill. 


48 


James J. Story. 


49 


L. E. Workman. 


5° 


A. A. Crane. 


5' 


D. S. Mahana. 


5 2 


F. J Mills. 


5S 


Andrew J. Hopper 


54 


D. C. Stephens. 


55 


F. S. Yearian. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




o 
o 

Q- 

u_ 
O 

>- 



1DAH0-THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



AGRICULTURE IN IDAHO. 

The mining interest is predominant in the state, and the cul- 
tivation of the soil lias kept well up to the requirements of the 
demand. It is expected that there will be a continued increase 
of the demand for the products of the soil. Many sections are 
capable, as stated, of producing large crops without irrigation; 
and the great wheat and other grain belts in the state are now 
so produced. 

It is estimated that there are from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 
acres of valley and upland which can be irrigated and made 
productive. The process of irrigation is by means of canals 
or channels to conduct the water from streams and springs and 
distribute it through the lands intended for cultivation. It is 
the mode adopted more than 3,000 years ago by the ancient 
Egyptians in the valley of the Nile. 

The cost of clearing the sagebrush and digging the ditches 
is from fifty cents to $1.25 per acre, being much less than the 
cost of clearing the timber land in the East. Canal companies 
that have irrigating canals charge from seventy -five cents to 
$1.25 per acre per year, or they will sell perpetual rights, subject 
to assessments for repairs, at from $6 to-$8 per acre. In some 
locations committees may unite and construct canals for their 
own benefit. 

Irrigation is more or less necessary in Southern and Central 
Idaho. In Northern Idaho, where there is greater rainfall, it 
is resorted to in occasional cases only. A brief statement of 
some of the principal farming productions in Idaho must suf- 
fice to attract attention to the merits of Idaho. 

Wheat— All varieties, both spring and fall, of.this staple are 
grown at all altitudes. The average yield is placed at 30 
bushels. Fields sometimes yield 60, and many have produced 
So bushels per acre. The quality of Idaho wheat is not ex- 
celled, the berry being plump, hard and bright, and is rarely 
affected by the evils common to the crops in many regions. 

Barley '— Of this grain the same may be said as of wheat, 
except that the yield per acre averages 40 bushels, a single 
crop often exceeding So bushels per acre. 

Oals — Growing everywhere, the yield is from 55 to 75 bush- 
els, usually weighing 45 pounds to the bushel. 

Rye — In every section of the state the finest quality of rye 
is raised. It is sown in the spring and the fall and largely used 
for pasture. 

Flax — In some parts of Northern Idaho considerable atten- 
tion is paid to the cultivation of flax. It produces from 20 to 
30 bushels per acre. 

Corn — The nights are too cool to produce good crops in 
the state. Yet there is grain of excellent quality raised, par- 
ticularly in some of the lower valleys, as Boise, Payette and 
Weiser. 

Broom Com and Sorghum — Are successfully cultivated. 
The latter is especially rich in the sweet juice. 

Tobacco and Sweet Potatoes — Are successfully grown in 
milder belts of the state. 

Grasses — As the natural grasses abound, less attention has 
been given to the tame varieties. The blue grass, orchard 
grass, red top, timothy, alfalfa and clover have each been suc- 
cessfully grown in the localities to which they are adapted. 
Alfalfa is especially adapted to all sections and is the favorite 
for general cultivation; its yield being so great that credibility 
is severely taxed to realize its truth. Its fattening and dairy 
qualities are superior to all others. 

Fruits — Practical experience has demonstrated that apples, 
pearlies, pears, apricots, nectarines, plums, grapes, etc., also 
the various small fruits, are adapted to and thrive in Idaho. 
They yield large crops, the fruit growing to great size and of 
superior flavor. 

Vegetables — Potatoes of very excellent quality yield large 
crops, and large shipments have been made to Eastern mar- 
kets. All kinds of vegetables, as beets, peas, squashes, beans, 
tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, etc., are cultivated with success, 
yielding large crops of good quality and prodigious size. 



WHEAT AND STOCK RAISING. 
Wheat. 

That the production of wheat in Idaho absorbs the chief 
attention of the farming community is not surprising when at- 
tention is directed to the ease which attends its cultivation, 
the harvesting and the large yield per acre, compared to the 
labor and expense required in its production in the Eastern 
States. The improved modes in cultivation and the improve- 
ments in all kinds of farm implements have stimulated the 
farmer to increase his production by cultivating more land at 
less cost than formerly. This stimulation has tended to pro- 
duce increased crops from constantly increasing cultivated 
acres, more rapid than the increase of population demanded. 
Thus an overproduction has followed with correspondingly 
low prices This depression of price must at an early date re- 
sult in reducing the area in those Eastern states which are 
rapidly assuming high rank as manufacturing centres. The 
great cost in producing a bushel of wheat in those sections will 
tend to reduce the aggregate crop, and with a like cost they 
cannot successfully compete with the wheat-growing regions 
of the Northwest, which is emphatically a natural wheat belt 
and will always in the future hold rank above competition for 
successful production. As the cultivated area of the best 
wheat-producing lands in the United States is reaching its 
limit, with the population increasing toward the point of con- 
sumption, so will the product advance in value. 

The wheat lands of Idaho, by reason of their everlasting 
fertility and their large return to the cultivator, are especially 
commended to the wheat grower or farmer. A visit to some 
of the large grain fields in Idaho during harvest excites won- 
der when one sees the broad acres of golden grain falling under 
the harvest sickle, then carried to the thresher, and, in an incredi- 
bly short time, sees the grain, which a few moments before was 
standing in the field, sacked ready for shipping to a distant 
market. 

There are in Idaho 16,000.000 acres of land classed as agri- 
cultural, of which about two-thirds require irrigation. These 
lie principally in Southern Idaho. Under a system of irriga- 
tion, the husbandman who has once cultivated his land with 
the assistance of irrigated water will pronounce it more satis- 
factory in its results than when compelled to trust to the fickle- 
ness of the clouds, which may bring a sufficiency, a superabun- 
dance to destroy, or abandon them to burning droughts. The 
advantage is with the farmer, when at his will his crops are 
revived with refreshing supplies of water and repay his atten- 
tion with generous crops ranging from 30 to 80 bushels per 
acre. Those sections which are cultivated without irrigation 
are chiefly in the northern part of the state, in the rich valleys 
and in the mountain slopes. The total yield in the wheat belt 
is, in the aggregate, very large, and increases each year. In 
this region is included the wonderful fertile valleys of the Pot- 
latch, Genesee, Paradise, North Palouse, all noted for their 
surprising wheat production, as high as 80 bushels machine 
measure having been produced per acre. Such yields are 
probably exceptional, however; but to show that they average 
largely, compare the average yield of Idaho with the states 
named in the following table showing the production per acre 
of the staples named : 

Wheat. Rye. Oats. Barley. Potatoes. Corn. 

Idaho 30 25 55 40 250 3s 

Nevada .... 12 ... 31 ... 95 30 

California .... 17 15 30 23 114 34 

Oregon 21 14 31 23 95 33 

Eastern Stales . . 13 15 31 23 69 26 

It will be seen that Idaho leads the highest producing sec- 
tion 9 bushels and the Eastern States 17 bushels per acre. 
Cannot Idaho honestly and truthfully present her claims to 
agriculturists seeking new homes for grain growing? 

Now, in case the reader thinks of locating or investing in an 
agricultural region, why not visit Idaho and investigate the 
most profitable wheat-raising section? 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



Stock Raising. 
With 25,000,000 acres of grazing lands covered with indige- 
nous grasses highly nutritious in all of the qualities requisite 
for grazing purposes, Idaho presents special inducements to 
the stock growers. Botanists who have investigated the na- 
tive grasses growing in the state say that there are thirteen 
different kinds, hardy and vigorous to withstand the severest 
rigors of the climate, that are valuable for grazing purposes. 
Chief and most abounding is the bunch grass, so named from 
its growing in bunches from a stool similar to timothy grass. 
There are several varieties, two of which are most popular. 
It is probable that location may have caused the diversity, as 
the lower bench lands next to the bottom are the home of one 
variety, and the higher rolling hills and mountains are the 
favorite haunts of another. These are considered about equal 
in value; but the former is thought best for cattle and the lat- 
ter for sheep — a kind provision in Nature, as the rolling hills 
and mountains are also better adapted to that animal. 

When the snow has been heavy during the winter and the 
ground well moistened, or there has been heavy rains or snow 
in the spring, the grass starts early and the growth may be ex- 
pected to be heavy. It ripens in the latter part of June. If 
there should be an exceptional season it may remain green till 
September. However, the standing growth has been cured, 
retaining its elements of nutrition, which all kinds of stock 
devour ravenously. Stock raising in Idaho is not an experi- 
ment. It has proven a success, as evidenced by the number 
now owned in the state. There are of cattle over 400,000; of 
horses, 140,000. The favorite mode of grazing is to pasture on 
the mountains in summer and remove the herds to lower eleva- 
tions where shelter from inclement weather and food can be 
had should it be required. In the range stock business, the 
herds of cattle and bands of horses are left to range freely over 
the mountains and hills at will. In most parts of the state 
horses and cattle will winter without hay or grain, thriving on 
bunch or other native grasses, the sweet sage, etc. The stock- 
man who exercises vigilance, care in the management of his 
stock, keeping them together that they may not wander into 
other herds, attention to branding, seeing that they have food 
in reserve in case of an emergency arising from an unusual in- 
clement season, will certainly succeed in the business. The 
old breeds of horses and cattle are being replaced with better 
grades. Thoroughbreds and high grades of all the most ap- 
proved breeds have been introduced in the state, and fine 
animals are seen in most ranges. 

There is wealth in stock raising under judicious manage- 
ment. Twenty-five years ago large sums of money were in- 
vested in range cattle on the plains of Nebraska, Kansas, Mon- 
tana and other states east of the Rocky Mountains. Capitalists 
who knew little or nothing of the practical management re- 
quired in stock ranging, invested largely in cattle, hoping to 
increase their wealth from the open and untaxed lands of the 
plains and mountains. The stimulation thus given to the busi- 
ness increased the numbers enormously, producing great com- 
petition, which resulted in large losses. This, with the settlers 
crowding the range held by the large ranches, is placing in the 
hands of the farmer opportunities to compete with the latter 
on a smaller though profitable scale. It requires a larger capi- 
tal to embark in raising horses than it does cattle. A farmer 
moving on a ranch near a range with a few cows can in a few 
years gather about him a fine herd of grazing cattle. In what- 
ever section one may go he will find farmers who have become 
wealthy from stock raising, and that the business is not over- 
taxed with competition. The extension of railroad systems 
will develop the country and afford quick transportation to the 
best market points. 

There are in Idaho over 400,000 sheep. The mountains 
and hills are eminently adapted to the raising of these useful 
animals. These elevated ranges are the natural home of the 
sheep, where the diseases to which they are subject on the low- 
lands seldom come, and they thrive and withstand an un- 



usually vigorous climate. Sheep raising is the poor man's 
opportunity in Idaho, as it is claimed that no other branch of 
stock raising will bring wealth and independence so quickly 
as sheep raising on a small capital. 

As with all other undertakings, some knowledge and ex- 
perience, in combination with proper care and attention to their 
wants and safety, are requisite to success. Sheep thrive on 
the scantiest pastures when necessary and endure the lowest 
temperature with moderate feed. Beginning with a band con- 
taining 100 sheep, in the course of a decade it will increase to 
a number incredible to those unacquainted with the profits of 
sheep raising. A small capital will suffice a poor man to pur- 
chase a band and outfit, and Idaho presents free ranges, with 
water from the mountain streams and timber to shelter from 
the burning sun in summer and the inclement weather in win- 
ter. Opportunities are sometimes presented where bands can 
be leased for a term of years on the share system, where the 
sheep are furnished by the owner to be cared for by the lessee, 
who returns to the lessor one-half the wool clippings and half 
the increase and the original number at the end of the term. 
Many poor men have become wealthy and independent who 
began sheep raising on the lease system. An illustration pre- 
sents itself in that of a herder who, without a dollar, obtained 
a four years' lease on 1,000 head of sheep. In the firstyear the 
increase was nearly 2,000; the second, 2,250; the last, 2,400, 
when the band numbered, less all losses, 7,000, an increase of 
6,000 for the term. The receipts from one-half the wool to the 
owners was $650, $r,ooo and $r,ioo in consecutive years; 
the last year's wool clip was worth $4,500. The owner of the 
sheep during the four years had realized 3,000 sheep worth 
f [o.oooand $5,000 from the wool; all from one-half the profits 
on 1,000 sheep. Like successful results have been common 
in Idaho. It is unnecessary to enumerate the many instances 
where the stock raiser began with his own capital. There are 
well known men in Idaho who began without a dollar and by 
their own tact and energy are now able to count their success 
by many thousands of dollars. 

The number of sheep in Idaho is about 420,000. There 
has been a marked increase in the number of improved sheep 
and in the yield and quality of the wool. The average fleece 
is about six pounds in weight and is eagerly purchased by 
buyers for the Eastern markets. The Idaho mutton also finds 
favor in the markets East, and thousands are shipped over rail- 
ways or driven overland to Omaha and other points. 

FRUITS. 

The fruits produced in the Northwest are noted for their 
extraordinary beauty, size and quality. Of all the many sur- 
prises which Idaho presents to Eastern visitors, nothing strikes 
them with greater astonishment than a first sight of the 
fruits in their season, in the orchards and grounds in the fruit 
belt of the state, extending from British Columbia on the north 
to Utah and Nevada on the south. The apples, pears, 
peaches, apricots, prunes, plums, cherries and all small fruits 
are grown in perfection. The quality of the fruit is excellent, 
the size large and the yield enormous. It is the size and yield 
which strikes the beholder with surprise. Apples may be 
seen from 12 to 16 inches in circumference; peaches, 10 to 12 
inches ; plums and prunes, 4 to 6 inches, and cherries and all 
other fruits in like proportion. The long fruit-bearing limbs, 
hidden with crowded fruit, hang perpendicularly on account of 
the enormous weight. This is especially true of plums and 
prunes, a single year's growth of limb bearing hundreds of the 
fruit. 

Young trees grow very rapidly on being planted in the 
orchard and bear shortly afterward. The young bearing wood 
growing to great lengths, the quality of fruit one will sustain is 
almost incredible to those unacquainted with the fruit-bearing 
habits of trees west of the Rocky Mountains. It is owing to 
these qualities of Idaho fruit that wonderful productions are 
obtained from orchards. A four-years' growth of young trees 



1DAH0=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



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IRRIGATION SCENES IN IDAHO. 



IDAHO-THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




LARGE ROLLER MILLS AT WEISER — STREET IN WEISER. 



1DAH0=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




SCENERY IN BEAR LAKE COUNTY. 

No. I — Natural Bridge, Bear Lake Hot Springs. No. 2 — Fish Haven, from Summer Residence of Hon. Chas. B. Wilson 

One-half Miles from Montpelier. No. 4 — Bear Lake, Showing the Wonderful Natural Roadway Between Bear and Mud Lakes 



No. 3 — Joe's Gap, Two and 



DAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



have yielded: apple trees, 200 pounds; cherries 75 pounds; 
peaches, 150 pounds; pears, 130 pounds; plums, 150 pounds. 
These are not exceptional figures, but are duplicated in many 
well-cultivated young orchards in the state. Small fruits, such 
as strawberries, currants, raspberries, blackberries, etc., are 
also very prolific. The more hardy fruits can be grown with 
success in most all of the higher elevations of the state. There 
are fruit farms which contain many thousands of trees with 
many acres devoted to the cultivation of small fruits, and the 
planting goes on each year, the demand keeping well up to 
the supply. It is seldom a crop failure occurs, and then only 
partially. There are orchards in the state that produce from 
20,000 to 50,000 bushels of fruit annually. 

The grape succeeds admirably and attains high perfection 
in size and quality; the soil being peculiarly adapted to the 
thorough development of its best qualities for the table use 
and wine making. For drying fruits, the climate is well 
adapted to this branch of fruit culture. Nowhere does the 
Italian prune attain such perfection as in Idaho; the dried 
prune being thought to be of better flavor and quality than the 
best importations from Italy. The universal demand for 
dried and canned fruits will always maintain the importance 
of fruit growing as a profitable business in Idaho. 
UNITED STATES PUBLIC LANDS. 

There are about 7,500,000 acres of government public land 
in Idaho open to settlement in the United States Land Office. 
These are located as follows: The western district at Boise 
City, the southern central district at Hailey, the eastern dis- 
trict at Blackfoot. These are traversed by the Union Pacific. 
The northern central district at Lewiston, on the Snake River, 
is reached by boat, and the northern district, atCceur d'Alene, 
is traversed by the Union Pacific and the Northern Pacific 
Railway systems. The Indian reservations contain about 
1,500,000 acres, which include some of the finest agricultural 
lands. These reservations are occupied by the Blackfoot, 
Lemhi, Nez Perce and Cceur d'Alene Indians. As fast as the 
Indian occupants can be induced to accept lands in severalty, 
the remaining lands will be opened to settlement. 

STATE PUBLIC LANDS. 

By the act admitting Idaho as a state, Congress donated to 
the state, in trust, for certain public purposes, in addition to 
Sections 16 and 36 previously reserved for school purposes, 
700,000 acres, of which about 160,000 acres have been selected 
by the state and are subject to disposal. The remainder will 
be secured for the state as fast as the difficult work of selection 
can be done. Congress, with proper foresight, has fixed the 
minimum price of these lands at $10 per acre. The state has 
provided by law for the appraisement and sale of the lands to 
which title has been perfected. Much of the lands heretofore 
sold have realized prices greatly exceeding the limit fixed by 
the act of Congress. Sales of school lands have realized an 
average of $23. 9c This will convey to the reader an idea of 
the vast sum the munificent grant will produce with proper 
management. 

connERCE. 

The commerce of Idaho is confined almost wholly to rail- 
way traffic and by navigable waters. The Union Pacific sys- 
tems traverse the southern and northern parts of the state; 
the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern also traverse the 
latter part. The united length of this network of railway 
lines in the state is enormous. The Snake, Cceur d'Alene, 
Kootenai, Clarke's, Pend d'Oreille, Clearwater and other rivers 
each furnish some facilities for navigating the interior, as also 
do some of the larger lakes. These waters are of great im- 
portance to the districts in which they are located. There are 
also within the state 92,618 miles of telegraph lines to transmit 
communications to and from all parts of the world reached by 
wire. The exports consist of the products of mining and 
agriculture chiefly, and the imports include nearly every article 
demanded by the wants of the population. 



HANUEACTURES. 

Idaho with her mountains stored with inexhaustible sources 
of wealth, with her iron, copper, coal and other minerals, her 
forests of timber unexcelled, with vast quantities of peltry, 
wool, ores and other raw materials, has not as yet drawn en- 
terprise and capital to enter upon their transformation into 
manufactured articles of use and necessity. But in time, 
probably not far distant, the now valuable treasures will be 
dragged from their undisturbed recesses, the hides will be pre- 
pared for their uses, the wool will be transformed into articles 
of apparel and the ores reduced for useful purposes. Every- 
where among the streams is found sufficient power to run the 
looms of the world which is now utilized only by a few flour- 
ing mills to transform immense wheat crops, and a few saw 
mills in manufacturing lumber. 

Idaho is open to many enterprises which might be found 
profitable. Materials for the manufacture of glass and pottery 
ware are plentiful. Good points can be found where foundries, 
machine shops, soap factories, tanneries, lumber mills, planing 
mills, sash and door factories; flouring mills of improved pat- 
terns can be located with an advantage to the consumer and 
the manufacturer. 

niNING. 

Mining is the leading industrial pursuit in Idaho. It is 
estimated that there are 40,000 persons whose occupation is 
devoted to this industry. The production of the mines in the 
state in the year 1S92 was of gold, approximately $2,000,000; 
silver, $4,000,500. The lead product is very great, Idaho being 
in the front rank in the production of this metal. The extensive 
copper mines lie undeveloped and unproductive on account 
of the distance from transportation. A special chapter on 
minerals and mining will be found in this work, to which the 
reader is referred for extended and valuable information on 
this interesting industry. 

ROADS. 

The importance of good roads is nowhere better realized 
than by the people of Idaho. The state has inaugurated a 
system for the construction of state roads to penetrate the 
more important sections of the state needing highways, which 
could not otherwise be constructed without entailing onerous 
charges on the people. Some of these roads are under con- 
struction and others in contemplation awaiting surveys. The 
necessity and justice of the state assuming the task of con- 
structing and maintaining these great thoroughfares which 
traverse mountainous regions are apparent, as the develop- 
ment of its wealth and future prosperity depend largely on 
easy communications to all parts of it£ territory. 

CHURCHES. 

The religious sentiment in the state is represented by all 
churches and denominations. Church buildings have been 
erected in all settlements where the inhabitants were suffi- 
ciently able to build them. The Episcopalian, Methodist 
and Methodist Episcopal Church South, Presbyterians, Bap- 
tists and Roman Catholics are the leading denominations in 
the number of ownerships of churches. Many others have 
edifices of worship. The church of Latter Day Saints has a 
large following in the southeastern part of the state. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

New in statehood, Idaho has as yet few public buildings. 
The attention of her people has already been directed to the 
erection of necessary buildings for state purposes. The Capi- 
tol is located in the beautiful city of Boise, an account of 
which will be given with Ada County. The Penitentiary is 
also located there. The Insane Asylum is located at Black- 
foot in Bingham County. References to other institutions, 
educational and charitable, have been made elsewhere. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



GROWTH. 

It was not until the discovery of the Oro Fino Creek mines 
that public attention was directed to the great mining wealth 
of Idaho. Immigration tended to seek homes near the coast, 
where communication with the world could be had by the 
ocean, rather than by the dangerous, lengthy trails overland. 
When the news reached the settlements the people flocked to 
the new El Dorado, and at once the development of mining 
and the growth of Idaho began, since which time it has been 
steadily onward. In the nineteen counties organized when the 
census of 1890 was taken, the report gives the population of 
each as follows : 

The completion of the Union Pacific Railway in 1869 stimu- 
lated emigration from all quarters to the West, which was 
increased by the completion of the Oregon Short Line through 
Idaho and the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's 
line in 1883 : 

Counties. Population. 

Ada 8,284 

Alturas 2,626 

Bear Lake 6,061 

Bingham 13. 49 2 

Boise 3,271 

Cassia 3. '35 

Cusler 2, 169 

Elmore 1,876 

Idaho • • • 2,965 

Kootenai 40, 53 1 

Latah 9,422 

Lemhi l,9 If > 

Logan 5. 15' 

Nez Perce 2, 594 

Oneida 6,827 

Owyhee 2,071 

Shoshone 5, 257 

Washington 3.828 

Indians and soldiers 5.55 1 

Total 90,549 

It is evident to all well-informed persons that the report is 
placed too low by about 10,000. 

The assessment for taxation for the year 1892 shows an in- 
crease in value of all property over that of 1890 of $5,578,761. 

The following table shows the taxable valuation of real and 
personal property for the year 1S92 : 

Counties. Valuation. 

Ada $5,032,713 

Alturas 604, 144 

Bear Lake 1,011,125 

Bingham 4,120,951 

Boise t 641,907 

Cassia 760, 000 

Custer 650,830 

Elmore 1,117,031 

Idaho 1,026,483 

Kootenai 2,183,350 

Latah 4,319,114 

Lemhi 646,978 

Logan 1,936,767 

Nez Perce 1,648,579 

Oneida 1,493.449 

Owvhee 946.431 

Shoshone 1,883,103 

Washington < 1,128,113 

Total $31. l6 °. 06 6 

The assessment rolls do not represent all the property in 
Idaho. Lands unpatented and those unsurveyed, though many 
acres are under a high state of cultivation and improvement, 
are not taxed, and will yield no revenue to the state until sur- 
veyed and patented. Mines, representing a value of over 
$50,000,000, are not taxed. Considering that property is not 
assessed greater than 50 per cent of its true value, the assess- 
ment roll does not exhibit more than one-fourth of the actual 
wealth of the state. 

In 1892 the assessed value of taxable property was $31. 131. 945 

In 1888 the assessed value of taxable property was 21,288,392 

Increase in 5 years $9,893,553 

The receipts from all resources for the year 1892 were . . . $424,591 .73 
Disbursements for the year 3 2 5. 795-5 8 

$98,724.15 

The receipts for the year 1891 $321,215.15 

Disbursements 247,501.55 

Balance • $73. "4- '8 

Showing an increase of receipts of $103,304.60 

The bonded indebtedness on Dec. 31, 1892, was $251,000. 



EDUCATION. 

The advantages to a state in having an educated and intel- 
ligent population is fully realized by the people of Idaho. Just 
having entered upon the responsibilities of statehood, the legis- 
lature has been liberal in providing means for educational pur- 
poses. The common school system, perhaps not yet fully per- 
fected, so far has been as efficient as could be expected. The fine 
public school buildings which have been erected in the cities 
and the towns, and the comfortable houses in the rural districts, 
are the pride of the people, whose liberality and progressive- 
ness heretofore are assurances that the facilities for educa- 
tion throughout the state will rank high in the early future. 
With the liberal donations by Congress, estimated to be about 
3,500,000 acres, the common school fund derived from their 
sale will be very great. This fund will remain a trust in the 
care of the state for the use of present and future generations. 
To this will be added special funds derived from sources fixed 
by the legislature. The amount levied for school purposes in 
the state by taxation in the year 1890 was $202,800. In the 
year 1892 the amount raised was $320,235, an increase in one 
year of $118,655. The. entire school population in 1890 was 
25,741, and the report for 1892 shows a school population of 
31,219, an increase in two years of 5,478. 

Congress did not neglect the higher grades of scientific and 
practical education, for liberal grants were made to the state 
to encourage and aid the establishment of institutions for such 
purposes. The grant for the State University was 50,000 
acres. The legislature has provided for its establishment, and 
it is located at Moscow, in Latah County. A building has 
recently been completed, sufficient, it is hoped, for present 
needs. It was opened for students in October, 1892, with an 
auspicious beginning. An agricultural college having a grant 
of 90,000 acres of land, a state normal school and a scientific 
school, each having land grants of 100,000 acres, will be estab- 
lished as soon as available funds can be realized. For the 
purpose of establishing an asylum for the care and instruction 
of the deaf, dumb and blind, there was granted 150,000 acres. 
Agricultural experimental stations are located at Idaho Falls, 
Nampa and Grangeville. These are for scientific pursuits in 
all matters pertaining to the realms of agriculture and horti- 
culture. 

IDAHO'S SCHOOL LANDS. 



Their Value, and How They flay be Obtained. 



By Hon. F. A. Fenn, Chief of Land Department. 

The future of Idaho as regards educational facilities and advantages is 
most promising. The munificent grant of land made to the state by the 
general government, coupled with the minimum price ($10 per acre) at 
which state lands may be sold, assures an endowment amply sufficient to 
defray all expenses of the public schools. The amount received from the sale 
of school lands goes into the general school fund, which is irreducible, the in- 
terest derived from its investment in state bonds and farm mortgages being 
alone available for the support of the schools. This interest, after but one 
year's operation of the law providing for sales of land, amounts to over 
$40,000 per annum. The first school land was sold Nov. 27, 1S91, and the 
last, Oct. 10, 1S92. The gross amount of sales made during that time was 
$617,47047, an average of $2391^3 per acre. When it is remembered we have 
belonging to the state, under the grant for common schools, nearly 3,500,000 
acres, an idea of the magnitude of our school fund in the near future can be 
formed. Within five years, it is confidently expected that the common 
schools of the state will be entirely supported by the income from the state 
fund, and local taxation, except for extraordinary purposes, will not be known 
in connection with our public schools. The gross amount paid teachers in 
the state for the school year ending Sept. I, 1S92, was $159,411.44. (See Section 
13, Annual Report Superintendent Public Instruction for 1890-91.) More than 
one-fourth of the amount of teachers' salaries is now paid by the income of 
the state funds created by the sale of lands during one year. The salaries, 
too, here mentioned included those paid high school teachers. Were the 
salaries restricted to common schools, the percentage paid by the income of 
state funds would be still greater. 

Other educational institutions are, like our common schools, munificently 
endowed. The University, located at Moscow, has a grant of 50,000 acres 
which at the minimum price of $10 per acre, means an irreducible fund for 
that institution of at least $500,000. Very much of the land will sell for twice 
or thrice the minimum, so that the University may safely be said to have 
$1,000,000 represented by her grant of lands. 



IDAHO-THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



The last legislature established two normal schools, one at Lewiston in the 

north, and one at Albion in the south. The grant for the support of these 
schools is 100,000 acres, and assures for the teachers of Idaho opportunities for 
technical training in normal schools equal to the best in the Union. 

The vast agricultural resources of the slate demand the highest instruc- 
tion for those who would achieve the best results in the farming industry 
This is made certain by the 90,000 acres grant for the Agricultural College. 
This grant is Vicing distributed over the entire state in the selection made under 
the direction of the State Board of Land Commissioners. The arid plains of 
Southern Idaho, which are transformed from a desert waste to an Eden by the 
magic water of the Snake River; the bunch grass hills of Latah, Nez Perce 
and Idaho counties, where bountiful Nature provides ample rainfall to in- 
sure unfailing cereal crops unrivaled by the yields of any other spot on earth; 
the practically inexhaustible forests of the northern and eastern portion of 
the state, are all being made to yield of their choicest for the benefit of the 
various institutions. No state in the Union has such variety of natural 
resources. Its agricultural productions range from some tropical fruits grown 
in the Lower Snake River Valley, to the grains and vegetables adapted to 
the higher temperate climates. The location in the high latitude is, by the 
uninformed, deemed detrimental to moderate climatic conditions. The alti- 
tude above the sea, ranging from 600 to S,ooo feet, gives variety, while the 
warm winds, locally called Chinook winds, moderate the temperature and 
render the climate equable. While during last winter (1S92-3) unusual snows 
and extreme cold afflicted the most favored portions of the Mississippi 
Valley, Boise City, in the midst of the Snake River Valley, at no time during 
the winter had to exceed three inches of snow. This was the deepest, and 
lasted for two days. That Boise City is not an exceptional locality in this 
regard may be shown by the fact that, on the first day of November, 1892, 
the writer plucked from the bushes and ate ripe raspberries, and ate, in the 
garden where it grew part of a ripe, luscious watermelon. This occurred in 
the garden of Mr. Theodore Swarts of White Bird, in the northern part of 
Idaho County. 

The casual observer, by examination of a map of Idaho, would determine 
that all of Central Idaho is a region so rough and mountainous as to be 
utterly uninhabitable and valueless. No greater error could possibly be 
made. During the summer season those mountains afford unsurpassed 
pasturage for vast herds of stock that in the winter subsist on the hay so 
abundantly produced in the valley. Those mountains are clothed with vast 
forests of the choicest timber, fir, red cedar, wdiite and yellow pine and 
tamarack, excelling the famous pineries in Michigan and Maine and equal- 
ing the fir regions of Puget Sound. Thus, again, beneath the surface of 
these mountains are found mineral deposits, gold, silver, copper and lead, 
the richness of which makes Idaho the peer o( Colorado and Montana as a 
mineral producer. 

The selection of large tracts of land in all parts of the state, in satis- 
faction of the grants made by the United States, affords to colonies oppor- 
tunities to secure thousands of acres of lands in a body for the establish- 
ment of homes, for the acquisition of lands under the most favorable con- 
ditions. While the minimum price, fixed by the constitution of the state, 
may appear high, it in reality is not. No residence upon the land is 
required; but one-tenth of the purchase price must be paid at the time of 
purchase, the remainder running for ten years at 6 per cent interest, the 
purchaser, however, having the option of paying any part or the whole of 
the purchase price at any lime. The land is taxable only to the extent of 
the paid-up interest of the purchaser in the land. The policy of the state is 
to allow the laud to remain as security for the irreducible fund for the 
creation of which the land was granted. The state can use only the income, 
and therefore the interest alone is required to be paid promptly. The one- 
tenth exacted at the lime of purchase is but an evidence of good faith. The 
state certificates of sale are assignable, and to all intents and purposes, so 
long as interest is kept paid up, are as good as a deed to property practically 
exempt from taxation. 

This leads me to say that an erroneous impression may easily he formed 
as to the rate of taxation and the actual value of property throughout the 
state. The rate may appear excessive, but when considered in connection 
with the very low assessments, it is not. The average assessed value of 
lauds the state over, as shown by examination of the State Auditor's report 
for 1S92, is less than $4 per acre, while the average price received for school 
lands sold al public auction in all parts of the state was for the year ending 
Oct. 10, 1892, $23.91 per acre. (See report State Board Land Company, page 
30.) The lands sold were unimproved, either covered with sagebrush, 
requiring to he cleared, as in the southern part of the state, or in its native 
bunch-grass sod, necessitating the expenditure of from $2 to $3 per acre for 
breaking and cultivation, as in the northern part; while the lands assessed 
were all improved and to a great extent in the very highest state of culti- 
vation. Still, with the great difference in condition, the actual selling price 
of unimproved lands was almost five times as great as the assessed value 
of the improved property. Causes, too numerous for discussion in this brief 
item, conduce to the anomalous condition which appears to exist, making 
Idaho seem the poorest of states burdened with excessive taxation. Wen- 
property assessed at its true value, the rate of taxation would be reduced so 
low as to be inconsiderable. 

When the foregoing article is carefully considered, is it not true that Idaho 
will become one of the leading educational centres of the United States? To- 
day the "Gem State" surprises everyone with the rapid advancement made in 
her educational facilities during the last decade. Lookback but a few years 
and compare the log hut with the beautiful structures in which our children 

now are taught. We believe we have a just right to he proud of 0111 

record. 



H1NES AND niNINQ. 

This topic has been pretty thoroughly treated in the separate sketches 
given "f the several counties of the slate, since there is not one of these coun- 
ties that docs not contain within its borders deposits of the precious metals 
and other valuable minerals. There remains but little that can be added in 
detail concerning this important resource and industry. As Idaho has fully 
proved herself one of the great natural treasure houses of the Nation, per- 
haps a scientific reader and practical mineralogist would first like to know 
something of her geological formation and of the kinds of rock that form 
the homes of her gold and silver bearing ledges. There has been as yet no 
regularly authorized scientific geological survey of the state, so that knowl- 
edge of her rock structure is restricted to what has come from the person- 
al observation and experience of the prospector and miner in the thus far 
comparatively shallow and partial explorations made beneath the surface of 
the mountain rocks in their practical operation. These observations and 
partial examinations have sufficed to form a concensus of opinion among 
miners that the present condition of the surface is a result, in the first place 
of volcanic upheavals, followed by the grinding power of the primeval gla- 
ciers and finished by the washings by the mighty Hoods that accompanied 
the close of the glacial era. The entire area of the state is a vast elevated 
plateau, varying in altitude from 640 feet at Lewiston to 10,000 feet in the 
eastern part, and in the mountain sections almost every geological epoch is 
represented. What is familiarly known among miners as the country rock 
is granite, slate, porphyry and limestone in their various combinations; that 
of porphyry forming oftenest the casing of ledges. The lava formation is 
found chiefly underlying the deep alluvial of the valleys, revealing itself in 
the perpendicular walls of the deep river canyons and cropping out in cliffs 
and columnar formations along the sides and on the crests of the lower ele- 
vations and hills contiguous to the valleys. Thus, omitting technical geological 
terms and tedious scientific descriptions of formations, we have the general 
framework of the structure in which has been found the mineral treasures which 
have added and which continue to add so much to the wealth of the Nation. 
Much of the history of the earlier and later operations of mining in Idaho, as well 
as of the present status of this industry, will be found elsewhere in this work. 
For many years, the working of the numerous rich placer deposits engrossed 
almost exclusively the attention of the miner. Gold in this form was so easily 
found, and its extraction involved comparatively so little time and expense, 
that there was but little temptation to look further. But the placer deposits 
could not last always. As the process of exhaustion went on, it was leaving 
the miner with a past that had been golden, with a present that was daily 
becoming more unsatisfactory, and with a future that would have been a 
gloomy blank but for his knowledge of the fact that this placer gold upon 
which he had been reveling was but the offspring of the ledges from which 
the quartz that had contained it had been broken off during the ages, and 
that the gold freed by the crumbling of the ledges had, by the action of the 
waters, been diffused among the boulders, sand and gravel, wdiere they had 
found it. Having devoured the offspring, which he had found so palatable 
and so easy of digestion, the voracious and still hungry miner next turned 
his attention to the parent ledges, which offered, it is true, greater resist- 
ance to his attacks, but which promised greater permanence to the supply 
and a longer lease to the field of his operations.. It must not, however, be 
taken as literally true that placer mining has ceased to be prosecuted as a 
regular business or ceased to be a source of wealth in Idaho. There yet re- 
main in most of the old mining districts considerable areas of good placer 
ground, where large numbers of men find profitable employment, and where 
the results continue to be quite satisfactory. Much of this area is virgin 
ground, which has to he reached and worked by the construction of new- 
ditches and by the application of hotter methods and constantly improving facili- 
ties and machinery. A still greater area is ground that was worked by crude 
processes during the first years of placer mining in the creeks and gulches, 
when the sand and gravel from various deposits was rapidly and carelessly 
washed through short Humes and much of the gold lost in the "tailings" or 
debris that passed off in the process Ol washing. This is true in regard to 
many districts, but notably so in the Boise Basin, where only the lack of 
needed capital has prevented the inauguration of a system of bed-rock flumes, 
which ere this would have added millions to the annual output of the yellow- 
metal. To these sources of placer gold must be added the bars and gravel 
deposits along the entire course of Snake River, where placer gold has been 
found at almost every point in paying quantities, but where the particles of 
gold are of such minute fineness that the persevering miner has been nearly 
baffled in his efforts to save them. In many instances, however, a very en- 
couraging degree of success has attended these enterprises. The miners know 
that the gold is there, and they have determined that it must be saved, and 
the truth of the saying, that " Necessity is the mother of Invention," is being 
constantly exemplified and illustrated in discovering and applying better 
methods for saving this line gold. Even under these adverse conditions, the 
Snake River plai ers have already added materially to the gross yield ol ■ ild 
in the state. As the area covered by these placers is ol very great extent, 
and as the deposits arc practically inexhaustible, they must prove an ever- 
increasing and permanent source of wealth. It would be a needless waste of 
time to mention in detail all the districts in which quartz mini's have been 
opened and worked, or to attempt to sketch :i history ol mining operations 
in 1 the results that have attended them. It will suffice to say that in almost 
every instance, where good management and persistent industry have char- 
acterized tb' ood and satisfactory results have been obtained, 
ami in man .a the miner has reaped a rich reward for his enterprise ami 

labor. 1 I - ■ : of failure in most cases, where there has been failure, can 

be directly traced to gross mismanagement and needless waste and extrava- 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



gance. Of course, the high cost for labor, provisions, mining supplies of every 
kind, and for transportation during the earlier period of quartz mining, caused 
many mines that have since proved to be valuable properties to be abandoned. 
From the first discovery of the precious metal-bearing veins in the mountains 
of Owyhee down to the present time, no one at all conversant with the situ- 
ation has ever doubted the permanence of these veins nor their great extent 
and richness. Now that the facts have been made patent to the whole min- 
ing world, and the great wealth of these mines demonstrated beyond a pos- 
sibility of doubt in any quarter, astonishment is everywhere expressed that 
these mines were not continuously worked during the long period that has 
elapsed since they were first opened. Still, the causes we have enumerated, 
and the additional fact that it was found impracticable to attract the atten- 
tion of capitalists to them, sufficed to put a quietus on quartz mining and to 
bring on a long period of somnolence, from which the country has but re- 
cently awakened. In Boise County, where numbers of rich ledges have 
long been known to exist, and indeed in every other quartz-mining district 
in the state, the same causes have produced precisely similar conditions. In 
Boise County, however, we have one of the notable instances in which good 
management and persistent enterprise and industry have fully demonstrated 
what these qualities can accomplish. The Gold Hill Mine at Quartzburg con- 
tains no richer ore bodies than have been found in several other mines on 
the same belt; yet the Gold Hill has been continuously and successfully oper- 
ated for more than twenty years with results that have made the owners 
wealthy, while operations in the neighboring mines have been spasmodic, 
uncertain and generally unproductive of profitable results. Although the 
working of these and silver-bearing quartz veins is yet in its infancy in Idaho, 
enough has been done to prove that the mining industry will continue to be 
a permanent source of wealth, and that the output from mining operations 
will continue to increase from year to year for an indefinite time to come. 
As yet explorations and developments have only been partial. Vast moun- 
tain areas remain unprospected and almost unvisited and unknown. The 
broad mineral-bearing belt is known to be continuous entirely across the slate, 
by the discoveries that have been made at the various points along its course, 
and wherever seen and examined the mountain region has been found to be 
seamed with metal-bearing veins. No other conclusion is rational than that 
many other rich mines remain yet undiscovered. The number of galena veins, 
containing in abundance what is known as lead-silver ores, are beyond com- 
puting. Many of this class of mines have been opened and worked with 
varying degrees of success in widely separated sections of the state, notably 
in the Wood River and Coeur d'Alene regions. The future of these mines 
and their value it is difficult to predict and estimate, further than that it is 
certain they will continue to be worked, as much capital is already invested 
in them, and they are known to be rich in both the quantity and quality of 



the ores they contain. The market value of the bullion to be produced from 
them is another thing, as this, unfortunately, is made to depend upon the 
kind of future legislation that will influence the value of both silver and lead. 
It is reasonable, however, to hope that right counsels will prevail in the end, 
and that both metals will be restored to their rightful place and value; in 
which event, the silver and lead products from this class of mines in Idaho 
will alone make the young state one of the richest in the Union. Besides 
the mines of gold and silver and the lead found in combination with silver 
ores, Idaho includes among her productions all the other metals and min- 
eral substances known to general commerce. Extensive and rich deposits of 
copper ore are found near Snake River in Washington County, and also in 
other sections of the state. Only the fact that these deposits are found in 
isolated localities, remote from present lines ol railway communication, has 
prevented them from being developed and madeproductive. Coal of excellent 
quality has also been found in various sections, where, as explorations thus 
far show, the fields are extensive. Iron ore in large deposits, and with a large 
percentage of that indispensable metal, is found in proximity to the coal fields 
and ready to be worked into all its needed forms whenever enterprise aided 
by capital shall begin the work of appropriating and utilizing these gifts of 
Nature. As regards the total Idaho gross value of the yield from all the mines 
in Idaho since the beginning of mining operations within the boundaries of the 
state, there has never been any reliable data from which even an approximate 
estimate could be made. A very large percentage of this gross yield was the 
result of placer mining. Comparatively little of this gold went through any 
channel or into any place where its value could be accurately known, as the 
miners and traders made no report of the results of their labors or of their 
business transactions; so that the sources of official and statistical information 
were meager, and were confined for the most part to what could be gleaned 
from the books of express companies and the reports of transactions in the 
mints and assay offices. The same remark applies to much of the gold result- 
ing from quartz mining, especially in the numerous instances where quartz 
mines were worked on a small scale. Official reports made a few years ago 
place the total yield at $200,000,000. This estimate, however, based on data 
gathered from strictly official sources, is much too small ; but it will be seen by 
comparing the figures of all reports up to date that for several years past the 
annual output has been steadily increasing. When it is considered that Idaho 
has been the most isolated, the least known and the most neglected of any of 
the young communities of the West, and that she is surrounded by heavy 
bullion-producing states and territories where capital finds ready and profit- 
able investment, it is by no means surprising that comparatively so little has 
been done and that so little is generally known of her magnificent mining re- 
sources. 




PROSPECTING IN THE MINES. 



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IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



ADA COUNTY. 

This county was created and organized at the second session of tlie Idaho 
Territorial Legislature, in the month of December, 1S64, while the state capital 
of the joung territory was yet at Lewiston, in Nez Perce County, where it 
had been temporarily located by the act of Congress organizing the Territory 
of Idaho. At the time of the creation of the then new county, the great area 
included within its boundaries was a portion of the large county of Boise, 
which at that time included the entire region now covered by the counties of 
Boise, Washington, Canyon and Ada. The successive divisions of this original 
large area and the creation of new counties at regular intervals during a short 
series of years show in a striking light the rapid increase in population and 
the no less rapid development of the natural resources of the country of which 
it formed a part. 

Ada County was named in honor of a little daughter of Hon. H. C. Riggs. 
Mr. Riggs is one of Idaho's oldest pioneers, being at that time a resident of Boise 
County and representing his county in the legislature. By an act of the same 
session of the legislature, the capital of the territory was removed from Lewis- 
ton to Boise City, and thus the county of Ada became the capital county of the 
territory and subsequently of the state ; a condition and relationship which 
has continued to exist to the present time. As at present diminished, and 
shorn of her former proportions, the county can only claim an area of some 
1,500 square miles, with a population of something less than 8,000, but she is 
more than compensated for this by the absence of local rivalries, conflicting 
interests and antagonisms or differences of any kind among her people. She 
enjoys a most advantageous position, occupying the upper portion of the beau- 
tiful and fertile Boise Valley, with the rich mesa lands on thesouth.the greater 
part of the area of the county being good arable land of the best quality, pro- 
vided with irrigating ditches, and much of it already covered with productive 
farms. Only a small percentage of the area is mountainous, and this mountain 
portion, lying on the north and east, is known to be rich in gold and silver 
bearing ledges, which only await the development which time must soon bring 
to make them an additional and important source of wealth to the county and 
to the state. It is generally conceded that Boise Valley, taken as a whole, 
enjoys a decided advantage over her sister valleys of Southern Idaho in point 
of climate and natural resources, and it is well known that the upper portion 
of this valley, as regards climate, is peculiarly favored. The snowfall is light 
all over the valley, while the cold is never intense, mercury seldom falling 
below zero; but the upper portion of the valley, by its sheltered position, is 
peculiarly exempt from even the slight rigors of an Idaho Valley winter, while 
the heat in summer, always tempered by cool mountain breezes, is seldom so 
great, either in degree or duration, as to make it a subject of complaint. 

The exact financial condition of Ada County is somewhat difficult to arrive 
at, for the reason that the result of the legislation which divided the county 
the last time has left certain matters and questions incident to the division as 
yet unadjusted and unsettled. It is certain, however, that the final adjustment 
of these matters must leave Ada County in a healthy financial condition, as the 
county debt in any event will be small, while the resources of the county in the 
shape of taxable property are by far the largest and best of any in the slate. 
The area devoted to agriculture and fruit growing has been longer under cul- 
tivation than that of any other section of the state, its irrigated ditches are the 
oldest in right to the water of the Boise River and have first access, while long 
and careful cultivation has brought all the older farms and a large percentage 
of the entire area to a good state of productiveness. Of the irrigated area 
within the Boise Valley proper, that is, the lands lying contiguous to the river 
and bounded by the bluffs and uplands on either side, there are, approximately 
25,000 acres. These lands are covered by the older canals and ditches which 
have been many years in use. Upon these lands are the oldest farms, in a good 
state of cultivation, producing fine crops of grain, hay and vegetables. South 
of the Boise River the country rises in broad benches or plateaus, sometimes 
called mesas, which up to a comparatively recent date were entirely arid and 
apparently sterile, causing it to be classified as a portion of the "Great Snake 
River Desert." The advent of irrigation, however, has changed much of this 
old-time arid and sterile desert into productive farms, meadows, orchards and 
gardens. The area thus reclaimed and cultivated will aggregate some 15,000 
acres, giving a total of irrigated and cultivated lands within the county of 
about 40,000 acres. 

The unirrigated lands consist, first of a beltof mesa lands on the south side 
of the river, located above the present completed canals, but below the line of 
what has been heretofore known as the "New York Canal. " This enterprise 
maybe now said to be in a condition of "suspended animation " for want of 
funds, but it is only a question of time when operations must be resumed, as 
too much money has already been expended upon it to allow the right to lapse 
or the enterprise to be abandoned. This belt ofmesa lands will average about 
5 miles in width, with an approximate length of 30 miles, extending from the 
Boise to the Snake rivers, giving at the lowest estimate 90,000 acres of land 
equal in fertility to the best sagebrush lands in the county and available for 
future homes as soon as water can be obtained. 

North of the Boise River, and immediately contiguous to the cultivated 
area of the valley, there is a body of very rich uplands lying at present above 
the area that can be reached by the water now available in that quarter. This 
body of land will aggregate some 50,000 acres, and it will be reached and sup- 
plied with water by an extension of what is known as the "Walling Canal," an 
enterprise which during the past twenty-five years has supplied Boise City 
and vicinity with water, and has been the agent which converted the present 
site of the city from what was once an arid sagebrush plain to its present 
densely shaded and garden-like beauty. This canal, having served its original 
purposes, and having created a lovely and fertile oasis in an erstwhile desert, 



will now be enlarged and extended to the rich body of uplands below the city, 
where its life-giving potency is needed. This gives of irrigated lands 40,000 
acres and of unirrigated lands 135,000 acres. 

As regards the crops grown on these irrigated lands, it is somewhat diffi- 
cult to give accurate statistics, as there has never been any systematized effort 
made in the way of collecting data. In general it may be stated that the crops 
upon which reliance is mainly placed are those of hay, fruit and vegetables. 
These crops are cultivated in preference to those of the cereals, on account of 
the smaller outlay and greater profit attending production. The soil is well 
adapted to the growth of wdieat, oats and barley, while even Indian corn suc- 
ceeds very fairly. Thirty bushels of wheat per acre and 40 bushels per acre of 
oats and barley is not an unusual result, though perhaps a little over the aver- 
age. Of hay, the red clover will yield two crops per season and give two tons 
per acre for each cutting. Alfalfa does still better, giving three cuttings with 
a like result per acre. Taking one season with another, the market price of 
this hay will average at least $7 50 per ton, the price having often been during 
recent years as high as $10 per ton. 

Opinion is divided somewhat with regard to the most profitable fruit to 
grow. To cultivate a variety seems to be thought the best rule to follow. 
Prunes, however, are undoubtedly the favorite crops, and the returns from 
this fruit, realized and verified here in numerous instances, seem almost incredi- 
ble. From a recent report of the City Auditor, written and submitted here 
where all the facts are familiar, we quote the following : "A conservative esti- 
mate is that a five-year-old prune tree will bear 400 pounds worth two cents 
per pound on the tree. An acre of ground will plant 160 trees. The value of a 
prune crop from one acre is then seen to be $1,280. There are three varieties 
of prunes in this section, Italian, French and Silver, but the former does the 
best and is generally planted." Though the "prune fever" has but recently 
taken hold of the people here in earnest, we are nevertheless able to count 
within a radius of three miles from the centre of the city nearly 200 acres now 
cultivated in prunes, on most of which area the trees are already in bearing. 
It will be readily seen that with a soil and climate so admirably adapted to the 
cultivation and careful preparation of this fruit for already existing markets, 
this industry alone will constitute a constantly increasing source of wealth to 
the people of this highly favored section. The demand fortius fruit is practi- 
cally unlimited, and with better methods, larger facilities and lower rates of 
transportation, which must come in the early future, both the amount pro- 
duced and the profits of the crop must increase very largely from year to 
year. 

Whatever degree of truth and accuracy attaches to the saying that " Paris 
is France," may be applied with much more force and propriety to the newer 
saying that " Boise City is Ada County." The population of the county proba- 
bly does not exceed 7,500 souls, of which the city of Boise claims 5,500, leaving 
2,000 for all that portion of the county outside of the city. 

Boise City. 

Besides being the financial, commercial and political centre of Idaho, Boise 
City is widely known as one of the prettiest and healthiest cities in the country. 
The streets are wide and well kept, with well-constructed walks and crossings. 
Handsome trees line the streets, making the city delightfully cool and pleas- 
ant. A city ordinance for the erection of wooden structures within the fire 
limits has served to give the business portion a gratifying appearance of so- 
lidity. Many of the buildings of the city are really elegant specimens of metro- 
politan architecture in wood and stone. Bcise City is the wealthiest city per 
capita in the United States, and ample evidence of the fact is to he seen in the 
residence portion, where handsome and costly buildings are by no means the 
exception. Broad lawns with well-kept grass and shrubbery attest the invigor- 
ating influence of water upon the river soil. Though the approach to the city 
by rail from Nampa is through a fertile country, where a very fair beginning has 
been made in the cultivation of the soil and the growth of fruit and shade trees 
it is always a matter of surprise when the first view of the city is obtained. 
So dense is the tree growth and foliage in and about the town that the entire 
mass of buildings, with the exception of a few tall spires, is hidden from view. 
To its beauty of position and to all its other many natural advantages and at- 
tractions, Boise City adds that of being the permanent seat of the state, county 
and municipal government. These taken together would insure permanent 
and continued prosperity and rapid growth even in a locality far less favored 
by Nature. Among the several institutions, either forming a portion of or 
connected and identified with the city, the first in order of the time of its 
establishment is the military post known as Boise Barracks. The establish- 
ment of this post antedates by a few weeks only that of the laying out and 
commencement of the city. United States troops have been permanently anil 
continuously kept here since the establishment of the post, the reason being 
that besides being a central point for the movement of troops in case of need, 
troops can be kept here at a smaller cost to the government than at any other 
point, with the addition of being the healthiest post ill the country. 

The United States Assay Office is a large, commodious and conveniently 
constructed building, very substantially built of stone, at a cost to the govern- 
ment of $85,000. 

For school and educational advantages, Boise deserves the title, that has 
often been bestowed by visitors, as being the Athens of Idaho. The city owns 
over >i25,ooo worth of school property, the property including an entire 
in tile very heart of the city, upon which has been erected one of the largest 
and finest school buildings in the Northwest, at a cost of $100,000. The cost 
of maintaining the school will approximate $25,000 annually. There are 15 
teachers employed in the school, the principal receiving an annual salary of 
$1,500 and the teachers from $70 to $80 per month. 



IDAHO-THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



Besides the public schools there are two other very important educational 
institutions in the city: St. Teresa's Academy, under the direction of the Catho- 
lic Sisters of the Holy Cross, and St. Margaret's School, conducted under the 
auspices of the Episcopal Church. Both these institutions are devoted mainly 
to the education of young ladies, though both will receive and take good care 
of younger pupils of both sexes. Both institutions are supplying a need which 
could not otherwise be met, and both are doing noble work in the great cause 
of education. 

Among other public buildings maybe mentioned the State House or Capitol, 
erected while Idaho was yet a territory, at a cost to the people of the territory 
of $So,ooo. The building is perfect of its size and kind, complete in all its ap- 
pointments and quite adequate for present demands. 

Boise has thr^e banks, the principal ones being the First National of Idaho 
and the Boise City National ; the joint total assets of the two being $1,176,721 50. 
There is also the Capital State Bank of Idaho. This bank does a general bank- 
ing business, the estimated wealth of its stockholders being $5,000,000. The 
total business done per month by these three banks is about $4,500,000. 

What is known as the Rapid Transit Company, organized under a liberal 
charter from the city government, has inaugurated a system of electric street 
railway and already has three miles of track in successful operation. The ag- 
gregate cost of the work thus far is $S7,ooo. 

In the matter of railroads Boise is at present served byabranch of the Union 
Pacific from Nampa, a distance of 20 miles. This is far from being adequate or 
satisfactory, but it is a condition which cannot much longer continue. The 
city, by its commanding position, its political importance and its many natural 
features, has long been an object of attraction to other railroads. Everybody 
predicts a new era of railroad building in the early future, and with its advent 
Boise will be certainly reached by more than one competing line. 

In addition to the irrigation canals, which have made Boise the scene of 
loveliness which it is, and which keep it green and blooming during eight 
months of the year, the city enjoys the unique privilege and advantage of being 
abundantly supplied with both cold and hot water obtained from artesian basins. 
The pure cold water from the artesian springs serves all domestic purposes for 
every house in the city, with enough to spare for jets and fountains, while the 
hot water from a depth of 400 feet and with a temperature of 180 degrees Fah- 
renheit, flows in sufficient volume to supply all the purposes of bathing and of 
heating buildings for a city of 50,000 inhabitants. 

ALTURAS COUNTY. 

The area embraced within the present limits of this county forms but a frag- 
ment of the great region once known as the original Alturas County. From 
this great area several counties have been successively carved, those of Cus- 
ter, Elmore and Logan being the more recent slicings from her former grand 
domain. As she stands to day, Alturas County embraces within her boundaries 
but little more than the comparatively small section of mountainous country 
drained by the Wood River and its tributaries. Within these narrow limits, 
however, Nature has lavished her choicest gifts — of a mineral belt broad and 
rich, of numerous expanses of fertile land of heavily timbered forests, of large, 
beautiful lakes whose crystal waters reveal at wonderful depths moving 
masses of the finny tribes that furnish both sport and food for the delighted 
tourist and sojourner who come every summer to enjoy the bracing mountain 
air and the scenic beauties of mountain, stream and lake and sky, whose liv- 
ing pictures are nowhere on the green earth excelled. Although Alturas has 
been the victim of hostile and unjust legislation, which took from her so much 
of her rightful domain and left her with the burden of a debt which she has 
been obliged to pay with greatly diminished resources, and although she has 
also been the victim of many misfortunes and circumstances which have 
greatly retarded development, yet the brave little county has made a gallant 
fight, full of hope and faith in the bright future. "Few people," said Governor 
Shoup, in his report of 1890, "have ever met reverses with greater courage or 
struggled with larger zeal to overcome obstacles." 

The mines of Alturas County belong to the lead-silver class, many of which 
have yielded quite largely and have brought fortunes to the lucky owners. 
A good feature of the mining industry in Alluras is the great number of mines 
which are worked profitably by their owners of moderate means. The aver- 
age value of the lead-silver ores, according to the records kept by the leading 
assayer, is 160 per cent per ton. The mining districts are fairly well supplied 
with quartz mills, smelters and other improvements and facilities, so that the 
large class of small producers have no great difficulty in realizing the results 
of their labors. 

The county has several growing towns, Hailey and Ketchutn being among 
the number. Hailey is the county seat and is the centre of a healthy trade. 
The town is well built and prosperous, notwithstanding the fact that it was 
almost entirely destroyed by fire a few years ago. Near Hailey arc the famous 
warm springs, a favorite health resort, where $15,000 has been expended in the 
building of a fine hotel and improving and beautifying the grounds. Ketchum, 
situated 15 miles above Hailey, is the centre of trade for several groups of rich 
mines and the radiating point for trade and travel to the outlying camps north 
and east. 

The agricultural development is all that could be expected in a region of 
such high altitudes, where the season of cultivation is necessarily short, but 
the soil is of such extreme fertility that the results arc always satisfactory, and 
often surprising to those who witness the harvests for the first time. Com- 
pared with some of the great stock-growing counties of the slate, the busi- 
ness of stock raising is limited in extent and in results. It is safe to state, 
however, that to-day there are but little less than 50,000 head of range stock in 



the county, with a corresponding number of horses, sheep and other domestic 
animals. With all these resources, which have been necessarily very briefly 
mentioned, and with all her many natural resources and advantages, the 
changed conditions which time must soon bring in the shape of cheap trans- 
portation, better prices for the products of her mines and an increase in her 
workingpopulation, a prosperous future for Alturas County cannot he doubted. 

Hailey. 

The town which has been and must continue to be one of the leading com- 
mercial centres of Idaho is Hailey, the county seat and political centre of 
Alturas County. This favored little city is situated in the beautiful Wood 
River Valley, which lies on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The 
resources of Hailey are not only her attractions from an agricultural, mining 
and lumbering standpoint, but the little metropolis has gained much notoriety 
through her magnificent capacities as a summer and health resort. In figur- 
ing the possibilities of building a city, the resources which are to make it must 
be carefully considered. This is what the good people would have the reader 
do, and then determine in his own mind as to whether this place could ever 
become a town of several limes its present size. The following is what the 
citizens have to present as the resources of their place of residence. The 
mines constitute our backbone, and contain sufficient wealth to create a half" 
dozen old world empires. They yield gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, etc., at the 
rate of about $5,000,000 per annum, or over one-half the total output of the 
state. 

The Hailey United States land district contains 19,000,000 acres, of which 
only about 750,000 have been surveyed. Of the surveyed land, nearly all of 
which is in Alturas and Cassia counties, not more than one-third has been 
taken up by settlers, and some of the finest farming land in the state — par- 
ticularly on Camas Prairie, a few miles from Hailey — is yet open to settlement. 
Upon land similar to that last mentioned 60 bushels of wheat to the acre have 
been raised without irrigation, and other cereals, fruits and vegetables in the 
same proportion. The greater part of the land in this district requires irri- 
gation ; but rivers and creeks are plentiful, and the soil, when sufficiently 
watered, produces crops threefold larger than any of the Eastern states. 

The growth of Hailey has been steady and sure, never of the mushroom 
character of so many Western towns, and with the magnificent agricultural 
resources developing hand in hand with her mining interest, this growth is 
continuous and will be permanent. The Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian 
and Roman Catholic churches are established, with earnest workers in the field 
of churchly endeavor. Our schools are our pride. Situated on a slight emi- 
nence overlooking the valley and river, we have built one of the " bulwarks of 
the republic," that reflects credit upon the community. The sightliest build- 
ing in Hailey, it is also the handsomest and best -appointed school building in 
Idaho. Its cost was only $35,000, but it is a much better building than could be 
secured almost anywhere else for twice the money. Pardon the further boast 
that we have the best corps of teachers in Idaho, for the best of reasons : We 
pay them more liberally than any other school district on the Pacific Slope. 

Very few Western cities can, in candor, say much commendatory of their 
hotels But it is the boast of all Wood Riverites, and confirmed by experienced 
travelers, that the Alturas and Merchants are thoroughly equipped, ably con- 
ducted hostelries. They are new, three-story, fireproof buildings, supplied 
with every modern improvement, such as electric lights, calls and annunci- 
ators, fire and burglar alarms, commodious and handsomely appointed lavatories, 
and the most elegant furnishings that money could buy. The Alturas repre- 
sents an investment of $65,000, the Merchants about as much more. 

Hailey being the seat of the vast and growing Alturas County, a commo- 
dious public building was a necessity, and in 18S4 there was completed on a 
commanding site a three-story fireproof brick and stone structure costing 
$50,000, that serves as the repository of all the records of the county, a place 
for the sessions of the Second Judicial District Court, the Probate Court and 
for the safe incarceration of criminals. 

Hailey has a complete system of water works, which furnishes an ample 
supply of pure mountain water, under a pressure of 120 feet, for all domestic 
purposes, and affords protection from fire. This enterprise has been a great 
factor in making Hailey the beautiful city that it is; its plentiful supply of 
water having rendered possible the green lawns and thrifty, luxuriant shade 
and fruit trees seen on every hand. 

A company composed of a large number of ore producers owns the sam- 
pling works in Hailey. They have a daily capacity of 200 tons, which can be 
increased to 1,000 tons at a slight expense. 

A branch of the Colorado Iron Works of Denver, located here, is fully 
equipped with foundry and machine shop to turn out promptly anything in its 
line, from a nail to a steam engine or a quartz mill. Its workmanship is un- 
excelled. 

Apparently inexhaustible timber belts close at hand will supply all the min- 
ing and building lumber and cordwood that will be needed for generations. 
The forests that lie tributary to Hailey arc alive with big and small game. 

Hailey is lighted with electricity and the Brush-Swan is the system in use; 
and it is a notorious fact that Hailey streets and business houses are the best 
lighted of any city in the state. 

The Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company has its central exchange 
fortius region located here, whence wires radiate to all the mines, smelters 
and mills within a radius of 12 miles. Over 70 sets of instruments are in use. 

One mile from Hailey arc located the Hailey Hot Springs, now becoming 
famous as a resort for invalids, and especially those afflicted with mineral 
poisons or rheumatic troubles. Here are located the County Hospital and the 
Miners' Hospital, the latter supported by voluntary subscriptions of the miners. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



Most all of the leading secret orders have lodges here. Two daily news- 
papers and two weekly newspapers of a superior nature are published and are 
ably supported by the citizens of Hailey and the surrounding country. 

In conclusion, let it be said that the townsite of Hailey, which in 18S1 was 
still a portion of the stretch of country designated upon the maps as "un- 
explored region," can now boast of property worth nearly $2,000,000, the 
assessed value of which exceeds one-third that amount. Any information will 
he cheerfully tendered by the citizens of Hailey to those who may become 
interested in the town or its tributary country. 

Ketchum. 

Ketchum, a growing town of about 500 people, lies 13 miles north 
of Hailey, and is beautifully situated at the head of the Wood River Valley. 
At this point, Wood River is as clear as crystal, and rich in the finest of 
mountain trout. The vicinity surrounding affords good hunting, and 
elk and bear abound. The mines round about Ketchum are large, and will 
well repay inspection. The Guyer Hot Springs, two miles by stage from 
Ketchum, are noted for their medicinal waters, and are of high repute through- 
out the neighboring country. There are many objects of interest, both for the 
tourist and pleasure-seeker, in and about Ketchum. The scenery is beautiful, 
and the climate ail that could be desired. 

In regard to the general resources of Ketchum, a writer says that, how- 
ever considered, whether from a picturesque standpoint or from a stand- 
point of general accessibility, Ketchum occupies an admirable situation. 
The stranger catching his first glimpse of the town is wont to exclaim, 
"What a splendid site for a town ! " And how natural the exclamation, as one 
views the little valley in which the town so snugly nestles, surrounded by a 
grand and lofty mountain environment ; mountains towering all around her, that 
stand like giant sentinels in never-ceasing guard. Viewe'd industriously, Ketchum 
is the natural centre and heart — the feeder and supply point — of a scope of 
country equal in area to the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is a terminus 
ad qucm and a terminus a quo. Here the railroad ends, and the many high- 
ways, byways, trails and paths that reach and penetrate the numerous mining 
camps, towns and villages, near and far, begin. Ketchum is the key ti the Wood 
River, Warm Springs Creek, Smoky, Sawtooth, South Boise, Sheep Moun- 
tain, Germania Basm, Lowe River, Salmon River and other mining sections. 
Do you desire to reach any of the above-named sections of country? No 
more direct, speedy or commodious route can be found than via Ketchum — 
where well-equipped and well-conducted stage lines run in all directions to all 
sections. These facilities of travel have linked the town to all thesurround- 
ing country inaccessible to railroads, greatly to its benefit in matters of trade- 
Detailed information concerning Ketchum and her tributary country may 
be obtained by addressing a letter to the Board of Trade. 

BOISE COUNTY. 

With a present area of about 4,000 square miles and with about an equal 
number of inhabitants, Boise County presents so many interesting features, 
both in her physical conformation and in the historical interest that attaches 
to her past, that nothing like justice can be done her within the space that can 
be given her in this brief sketch. The county is located in the west centra' 
part of the state, and is bounded on the north by Idaho County, on the east by 
Custer and Alturas counties, on the south by Canyon, Ada and Elmore coun- 
ties, and on the west by Washington County. 

In the summer of 1S62 very rich and extensive deposits of placer gold were 
found in the region known as " Boise Basin." Since the discovery of these pla- 
cers not less than $200,000,000 worth of gold dust has been extracted from them, 
the much greater part being taken out during the fifteen years immediately 
following the discovery. The excitement following the discovery and early 
workings of these placers was only equaled by that caused by the discovery of 
placer gold on the tributaries of the Sacramento River in California. Thous- 
ands of miners, traders and adventurers of every class were attracted to the 
scene and for several years the " Boise Basin " was the most popular district 
of similar extent in the Pacific Northwest. Gradually, however, as time went 
on, these rich placers were worked out and exhausted of their treasures, until 
to-day there is comparatively but a small area of placer ground left unworked, 
and this is mostly owned and worked by the richer class of miners, who own 
and control the water ditches. With the partial exhaustion of the placers, at- 
tention was directed to the gold-bearing quartz ledges in the same region, and 
the development and working of these ledges brought a new era to the mining 
industry. Several of these ledges have proved to be good paying properties, 
notably that of the Gold Hill, which has been continuously worked for the past 
twenty years at a handsome profit to the owners. Besides this principal gold 
mine, hundreds of other claims have been located and worked with varying 
degrees of development and success, several of them of equal prospective value 
as the "Gold Hill." Eastward of the basin, but within the same region and 
watered by other tributaries of the Boise River, there is what is known as the 
Banner district, the principal mine being the Banner, which is rich in silver 
and has produced largely of the white metal. Nearly all the ledges in the Ban- 
ner district are silver bearing, and the work done on them proves that many 
of them are destined to become valuable properties. The present low price of 
silver and the lack of adequate capital are the only obstacles which prevent 
Boise County from being in the very first rank of silver-producing districts. 
Extensive fields of excellent coal have also been found within the boundaries 
of the county, but for the most part these coal deposits remain as yet intai 1 
for want of capital to develop them and from lack of means of transportation. 
Though most of the surface of the county is mountainous, and mainly valuable 
for the mineral it contains, there are numerous valleys, of considerable extent, 
watered by the Payette River and its tributaries, the land in which is wonder- 



fully rich and productive. The land in these valleys is being rapidly taken up, 
and a few years will see every available spot occupied and cultivated. All the 
different kinds of grain and all the hardier fruits are successfully cultivated 
and produced in abundance. Though secondary, of course, to the mining in- 
dustry, the agricultural resources of the county are far from being unworthy of 
attention. Even in the centre of the mining district, and at an elevation of 
from 3,000 to4, 000 feet above sea level, excellent crops of hay and vegetables are 
raised. The county is also rich in timber, no region of similar extent containing 
finer forests adapted to making lumber of the best quality. For many years 
these forests have supplied all the local demands for lumber in the counties 
adjoining on the west and south without any appreciable lessening of the qual- 
ity easily available to the lumberman. The numerous mineral springs of hot 
and warm water of good medicinal qualities have made the county famous as 
a health resort, and every summer sees a host of tourists and pleasure seekers, 
as well as others in quest of health, traversing her valleys and climbing her 
mountains. No county in the state has more numerous or finer streams or 
more localities of greater picturesque scenery. The famous Payette Lakes, 
situated in the northern extremity of the county, form the centre of attraction of 
a mountain district unequaled for its scenic beauty and many charming feat- 
ures. This locality has long been noted as one of the most delightful summer 
resorts in the state The larger of the two principal lakes is 12 miles in length 
with an average width of two miles, while in many places soundings of a half- 
mile in depth have failed to find bottom. The waters of these lakes and neigh- 
boring streams abound in fish, and the forests in game of all kinds known to 
the mountain regions of the West. 

While it is true that the principal resources of the county are those of min- 
ing, and that this will continue to he so for a long series of years to come, it is 
also true that the many other resources of the county and her many natural ad- 
vantages and attractions aid materially in making her one of the best counties 
in the State of Idaho. 

BINGHAM COUNTY. 

The county of Bingham has shared the fate of her older sisters of the Gem 
State in being obliged to accept the consequences of too much increase in all 
the elements of growth and prosperity. By act of the second session of the state 
legislature, the recent imperial domain of 14,000 square miles has been reduced 
to less than 3,000 square miles. The effort of the legislature was to bring into 
existence two new counties, that of Fremont with Pocatellofor its capital town, 
and that of Bannock on the north, whose county seat is the new town of Ante- 
lope. This division has left the name of Bingham attached to a narrow strip 
extending across the original area and about midway between the two new 
counties. It is not surprising that the founders and builders of Bingham 
County regard this division as but little less arbitrary, unjust and cruel than 
was that of the partition of Poland. The inevitable, however, compels accept- 
ance, and so we must try and write something about Bingham County, both as 
she was and as she is to-day. Viewed from the former standpoint, we cannot 
do better than to quote from Governor Shoup's report of 18S8-90, which tersely 
and accurately describes the original area and its many resources. In 1SS9 the 
Governor said : " The county of Bingham covers 165 miles from north to south 
and 88 miles from east to west. It ranks first in population among the counties 
of Idaho and second in taxable wealth. It embraces within its limits a variety 
of soil, climate, scenery, employments and products equal to any other. It is an 
empire in extent and possibilities ; it is a state in its resources and capacities." 
A rapid description of the county will naturally be given in triplicate, — its 
southeastern, or great mineral and grazing belt ; its centre, or chief agricultural 
section ; its vast worth with its great forests, its unrivaled natural scenery and 
its multitudinous farms. Southeastern Bingham has for its central business 
point the town of Soda Springs. This is a city of hotels, the cool resort of 
health seekers; the centre of the most valuable, the most curious, the rarest 
groups of mineral springs known to the geographical world. It is also the 
centre of a body of agricultural and grazing land which is winning the atten- 
tion of thousands of home-seekers, and where the settlers are solidly prosper- 
ous. 

Situated in the western and northwestern portion of the county we find the 
towns of Pocatello and Blackfoot, both of which are rapidly increasing in 
population, in wealth and importance. In Pocatello are located the most ex- 
tensive car shops between Omaha arid the Pacific Coast, and around the town 
are grazing lands, rapid streams, and hills tempting to the hunter and pros- 
pector. The town already presents a goodly array of hotels, schools and all the 
business institutions and modem facilities usually accompanying the march of 
civilization. 

Just north of Pocatello and beyond the reservation is Blackfoot, the county 
seat. Here are a well-built courthouse, the State Insane Asylum, the United 
States Land Office, business houses, comfortable dwellings, schoolhouses and 
churches- Within a radius of 20 miles of Blackfoot hundreds of farmers are 
cultivating valuable ranches, supplied with water from costly canals, where 
five years ago the coyote was the only live stock and sagebrush the only 
vegetation. 

In iSyo there' was reported 117,148 acres of improved patented lands 
within the limits of what was termed Bingham County. At least 2=; per nut 
has been added to this acreage since this last report was published, and it 
is safe to say that within a few more years tins area will be more than 
doubled. The present county of Bingham is in form a parallelogram. So miles 
long from east to west and 35 miles long from 1101 th to south. Bisecting 
this parallelogram longitudinally from east to west llowsthc great Snake River 
with all its scenic wonders of rock and rapids and cataracts, with its golden 
sands, still tempting the miners to further efforts in the- task of solving the 
great problem of saving all the " flour gold." Of these Snake River placers 
the Governor says: "It has been frequently asserted that the sands of Snake 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



River contain enough gold to pay the national debt, and of this kind of 
wealth Bingham County has a large proportion. The genius of man will cer- 
tainly discover some means to rescue this great quantity of precious metal 
from its sandy bed." Bingham County has the honor of being the home 
county of Hon. Fred Dubois, one of the United States senators, who came 
to Idaho when quite a young man and went patiently to work at whatever 
honest occupation he could find, like the average young workers who have 
helped to build up this grand young commonwealth. In his case, as in that of 
others, industry and good conduct were soon rewarded in more ways than 
one. Mr. Dubois was not long in winning a high standard among his fellow 
citizens, and was appointed United States Marshal from Idaho Territory, 
was twice elected to Congress from the territory, and when Idaho put on 
the robes of statehood, among her first acts was that of placing upon the 
shoulders of the young statesman the senatorial toga. The county, though 
now shorn of her former grandeur, is still rich in resources of every kind, 
and has room and advantages for all who may come within her borders in 
search of homes and wealth. 

BEAR LAKE COUNTY. 

This, the smallest county in Idaho, occupies the southeast corner of the 
state, at an altitude of about 6,000 feet. The county is principally consti- 
tuted by the Bear Lake Valley, which lies on the north and the south be- 
tween mountain ranges, to the length of about 50 miles, varying in width 
from 10 to 15 miles. At the south end of the valley lies the beautiful Bear 
Lake, with an area of 12x18 miles. There are several small lakes within 
the county and many streams traverse the valley, which is magnificently 
adapted to grain growing, while the potato yields marvelously. Hardy 
fruits do well in all parts of the valley and grapes are particularly produc- 
tive on the west shore of the lake. Cattle and sheep thrive in the foothills 
in the summer and the numerous natural meadows of the valley furnish 
plenty of hay for easy wintering. The first settlers here were colonists of 
the Mormon Church, who brought with them to the task of making homes 
in what was then a rugged and unpromising wilderness all the habits of 
the colony, industry and a perfect harmony of counsel in action which have 
always been distinguishing characteristics of the members of this church 
organization. The result is seen in the universal thrift of the people, in a 
population denser than in any other county of the state and a larger pro- 
portion of the soil under cultivation. Along the mountainous surface is a 
heavy growth of pine timber, into which the numerous saw mills of the 
■ county annually make inroads without seriously diminishing the supply. 

The county supports several prosperous towns, among which may be 
named Montpelier, Paris, St. Charles and Fish Haven. The first named is the 
largest and is the principal trading point of the county, being on the line 
of the Union Pacific Railway. Paris is the county seat, and is situated on a 
stage line connecting with the Union Pacific at Montpelier. This is also a 
trading point of considerable importance. St. Charies, on the banks of Bear 
Lake, is a small village with many beautiful residences with home-like sur- 
roundings. Fish Haven lies on the west side of Bear Lake on the slope of 
the foothills, nestled among the trees and overlooking the water. From 
Fish Haven to the south there is a drive six miles long, through a shady lane 
which curves with the shore of the lake. This is one of the most home- 
like places in the State of Idaho, and is an ideal spot for a summer residence. 
The lake abounds in fish and is swarmed with dozens of species of birds 
varying in size from the snipe to the swan. The Bear Lake Hot Springs 
are on the northeast side of the lake and are destined to be known to the 
entire world. Here a stream of mineral water conies pouring from the side 
of the mountain, which is nearly boiling hot. A good hotel is maintained at 
this point, as are two splendid plunge-baths. 

The Bear Lake Hot Springs. 

Rich & Austin, Proprietors. 
These celebrated springs are situated in Bear Lake County, State of Idaho, 
on the shore of Bear Lake, one of the most fascinating sheets of water in the 
Rocky Mountain region. The curative qualities of the waters of these springs 
are marvelous. For rheumatic complaints, skin diseases, catarrh and kindred 
ailments, they are unexcelled. The waters have never been fully analyzed, but 
sulphur, mercury and niter exist in quantities sufficient to make the waters the 
best natural medical bath known. Montpelier, on the Oregon Short Line- 
branch of the Union Pacific, is the most convenient railroad point. Hunting, 
fishing and boating arc- all combined with the resort, and a good family hotel, 
conducted by the genial J. C. Rich, a forty-niner, affords abundance for the 
inner man. The place is about 6,000 feet above sea level, and affords one of the 
grandest scenic views of mountain, lake and valley to be found in the West. 
The springs are midway on the delightful carriage drive across the noted nat- 
ural turnpike from Montpelier to Fish Haven, a beautiful villa on the western 
shore oT Bear Lake, where the big-hearted Wilson takes care of his friends. 
Capitalists are invited to investigate. 

Paris. 

Paris, the county seat of Bear Lake County, lies on the west side of Bear 
Lake Valley, almost at the fool of Paris Peak. The town was the first settle- 
ment made in the valley ami its date of inhabilance runs hack to the year 1862. 

Ever since its earliest days it has been the principal Mormon town of 
Southern Idaho, and it is here that the beautiful tabernacle is situated which is 
illustrated on another page. This is the finest building in the State of Idaho. 

The population of Paris is about 1,000. This town is surrounded upon three 
sides by line fanning lands, anil the f mrth side has the mountain, grazing and 
lumbering district. 



HONTPELIER. 



A Few Paragraphs Relative to the Metropolis 
of Bear Lake County. 



A Thriving Manufacturing and flerchandising 
Town. 



Just ten miles northeast of Paris, and near Bear River, lies the enterpris- 
ing town of Montpelier. It is the principal business point and commercial 
centre of the fertile and prolific Bear Lake Valley. 

The town is situated upon a gentle and almost imperceptible slope from 
the foothills, which break abruptly into the range of mountains that bound 
the valley on the east like an impassable wall. To all other points of the 
compass lies a level, unbroken stretch of farming land, abundantly watered 
by the Bear River and its many small tributaries, from tlie never-exhausting 
mountain snows. 

From the great canyon, at the very mouth of which Montpelier is nes- 
tled, a stream of considerable size flows, sparkling on its way, to empty its 
waters in the river beyond. This furnishes ample power for the flouring 
mills, moisture for the growing crops, orchards, groves and lawns, and drink 
for the inhabitants which compose the trade centre of this district. 

Montpelier is the only railroad town of any importance in the valley, and 
is therefore necessarily the trade centre of Unproductive region. The popu- 
lation of about 1,500 people support the two commodious and elegant school 
buildings, which are to be found illustrated upon the page devoted to Mont- 
pelier- 

A spacious opera house and a circulating library are numbered among 
the principal features of the town's principal attractions. 

The Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Latter Day Saints each are represented 
among the religious denominations. 

If the reader please, in connection with the foregoing, consider that this 
is a division terminal of the Union Pacific system where is located round- 
house and repair shops.many business houses, including a banking institution, 
together with an immense figuring mill. This is sufficient to acquaint the 
intelligent reader with the prosperity the town has enjoyed in the past. 

It is from this point that daily stages traverse the sections that lie in the 
immediate vicinity. Stages leave here daily for Paris, Bloomington, St. Charles, 
Afton and Wyoming. 

Montpelier's population is composed of an extraordinary intelligent and 
refined class of citizens, who, by their untiring efforts, have administered their 
town into an educational centre and leading business point. The immense 
amount of employment given by the Union Pacific Railway to industrious men, 
who make their homes here, gives Montpelier, in one point of view, the appear- 
ance of a manufacturing town. Not only is the employment of these men by 
the company a great financial benefit to the leading commercial town of Beat- 
Lake County, but the beautiful homes that are added to Montpelier by its rail- 
road men lend much to the architectual beauty of the place. We call special 
attention to the engravings in the Idaho Souvenir devoted to_ the town ol 
Montpelier, which will portray a true idea of some of its representative public 
buildings. 

As to the country tributary to Montpelier, we will refer the reader to an 
article devoted to Bear Lake County. It will be seen that the county is im- 
mensely rich and blessed with diversified resources. That which is of great 
interest to the traveler or tourist, and which may he found within the immediate 
vicinity of Montpelier, is the most superb scenery to be found upon the globe, 
which, together with the sparkling streams and peaceful lakes, lying at the 
foot of the towering precipices, presents to the observer a magnificent pan- 
orama of beauty and grandeur. 

The municipal affairs of this favored little city are conducted in a most 
commendatory manner. The best citizens are at the head of the government 
ami every attention is given to the fulfillment of their duties. The City Coun- 
cil is alive to every proposition that comes from any source that will prove 
beneficial to the town. 

The Post, a weekly paper, published by Mr. J. H. Wallis, is a bright and 
newsy publication, with a deserving circulation that reaches beyond what may 
be termed its own field. A sample copy of this excellent paper will give the 
reader a detailed report of matters of interest to himself, Montpelier and 
vicinity. 



1DAH0=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



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IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS OF MONTPELIER, BEAR LAKE COUNTY. 

No. I — East Side School. No. 2 — West Side School. No. 3 — The Hotel Hunter. No. 4 — Residence of Mayor Edward Burgoyne. ND.5 — Building 
of the Bear Lake Mercantile Company. No. 6 — Building of Mayor Ed Burgoyne's Mercantile Establishment. No. 7 — Montpelier Flouring Mill. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




IDAHO'S FIRST BUILDING. 



POST FALLS, ON THE SPOKANE RIVER. 




BEAR LAKE HOT SPRINGS. 



...::■ 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




OVERLOOKING THE CITY OF CALDWELL — THE BOISE VALLEY FROM CANYON HILL. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



BANNOCK AND FREnONT COUNTIES. 

The two new counties of Bannock and Femont formed until recently por- 
tions of the county of Binghami which washy the act of the second session of 
the state legislature divided so as to make three counties out of the original 
area. Since the creation and organization of the two new counties nothing 
has been done in the way of collecting statistical information with regards to 
them. 

Bannock lies south of the present county of Bingham and covers an ap- 
proximate area of 5,000 square miles. The county is rich in agricultural and 
pastoral resources and possesses advantages and capabilities which will in 
time make it one of the more important counties in the state. It has for its 
county seal the town of Pocatello, admirably situated as a future railroad 
centre, and is already the central trading point for a large and productive 
region. The Oregon Short Line and the Utah & Northern railways have their 
points of intersection here, and being both portions of the great Union Pacific 
system, the company has established here a large depot with machine shops 
and all the concomitants of a railroad division town. The railroad business 
keeps employed a large force of men, adding much to the importance and 
prosperity of the town. 

Pocatello is located in the midst of the Bannock Indian Reservation, to the 
lands of which the Indian title has not yet been fully extinguished. The mat- 
ter, however, is in process of adjustment by the Federal Government and the 
Indians, who will soon be induced to select individual tracts of land in sever- 
ally, after which act the reservation will be thrown open to settlement and the 
remainder of this land appropriated by white settlers. In the meantime, the 
town has title under the government to the townsite tract, which is of ample 
size for present needs. 

The new county of Fremont lies north of the present county of Bingham, 
with an area of about 6,000 square miles, extending northward to the Montana 
line and to the line of the National Park. The county is well watered and 
possesses a wealth of resources in agricultural and grazing lands and in its 
forests of the finest timber. The agricultural area is settled by an industrious 
and thrifty population, which has accomplished wonders in the way of im- 
provements in a section of country remote from railroads and very much 
isolated. The time cannot be far distant when aline of railroad will connect 
the Utah & Northern with the branch from the Northern Pacific, which already 
penetrates the National Park. The road when built will pass through the 
central and richest portion of Fremont County. The arable lands of this 
county have first and easiest access to the inexhaustible supply of water in 
Snake River. The people have already inaugurated a system of irrigation, 
much of which is in successful operation and carrying the water over a large 
and productive area of fertile land. When the system is completed there will 
not be an acre of available land in the county that will not yield its full quota 
to the general prosperity. The county, by its admirable position, its rich and 
varied resources and its proximity to the great National Park, is destined to 
be one of the most interesting counties in the state. 

CUSTER COUNTY. 

To give a full and complete description of Custer County, its resources, at- 
tractions for the settler, the mining man and the seeker of sport, health and 
recreation, would require a book of considerable magnitude. Hence, in an 
article for a pamphlet, or limited book publication, it is necessary that concen- 
tration, or ''boiling down,'' be kept constantly in mind. This county, situated 
well in the central portion of the state east and west, is one of the largest of 
Idaho's great counties. It possesses many natural advantages and favorable in- 
ducements to permanent settlement, and is capable of sustaining a large and 
thrifty population. Comprising many rich mineral belts and mining districts 
in its topography, it is also highly favored in the distribution and extent of its 
fine agricultural and grazing domains. From the valleys of the Salmon and 
Pahsamari on the east, to the Upper Salmon, Bear and Cape Horn valleys on 
the west, the distance is about 125 miles; and about the same distance north 
and south from Prairie Basin, at the Lemhi line, to the line of Alturas on Big 
Lust River at the south. 

Custer was first settled when it was yet a part of Lemhi and Alturas, in 
the early days of placer or bar and gulch mining. A few years later came the 
discoveries of rich gold and silver quartz, about 1876. Following this a new 
immigration set in; since which time the whole country has been explored, 
many mining towns and camps have sprung up, and the farmer and stockman 
have followed in the footprints of the seeker of the precious metals. The 
county is being well opened by good wagon roads, and the mountain trails are- 
fast giving way lo the more progressive means of thoroughfare. The nearest 
point to the county line from a railroad is at the summit, on the Salmon River 
and Ketchum wagon road, 12 miles northeast of Ketchum. Over this road 
daily stages run from Ketchum to all points in the interior of the county. The 
west end of the county, comprising the Upper Salmon country, Valley Creek 
Valley, Cape Horn, Bear Valley, Stanley Basin and the adjacent mining camp 
of Seafoam, Sheep Mountain, etc., is reached by a wagon road running north 
westerly from the railroad terminus at Ketchum. 

At the last session of the Idaho Legislature an appropriation of $135,000 was 
made for a state wagon road, beginning in Boise County (the county adjoining 
Custer 011 the west) and extending through the counties of Custer and Lemhi 
to the mountain line near Gibbonsville. The state road bonds sold at a pre- 
mium of 11 per cent, which gives the project a fund of nearly $150,000. The 
road can be easily completed this year, as it will connect with the county roads 
along the Salmon River in Custer and Lemhi counties. With the state road 
through the county, and with the present roads leading through the different 
valleys that connect with the roads leading to Ketchum and Blackfoot (the 
two railroad points), Custer County will be well developed so far as good road 
communication is concerned. 



The principal valleys of the county comprise the Upper Salmon Valley, at 
base of Sawtooth Mountains; Cape Horn Valley and the valley of Valley 
Creek in the western portion of the county, as yet principally devoted to graz- 
ing purposes; the fanning valleys and districts of the Middle Salmon and 
Round Valley, Fast Fork of Salmon, Upper and Lower Big Lost River, Little 
Lost River, Pahsamari, Warm Springs Creek, Thousand Springs Valley, Ante- 
lope Valley and some others. Adjacent to the fanning districts are vast stock 
ranges, generally favorable lo winter herding. There arc numerous hands 
and herds of cattle, horses and sheep on the hunch-grass and white sage 
ranges ; and the business of cattle, horse and sheep culture is an industry that 
is always considered safe and profitable. Avery large proportion of the county 
revenue is derived from this source. The valleys generally range in extent 
from 10 to 50 miles in length and 3 to 10 miles in width. Where irrigation is 
necessary, the waters of rivers and mountain streams flowing into or through 
the valleys furnish all the water that is required. Custer County is probably 
as well supplied with living streams and lakes as any county in the state. 

There are numerous mining towns, camps and districts scattered through- 
out the county, and for the most part are in close proximity to the farming and 
stock settlements. Among them are Bay Horse, Clayton, Garden Creek, 
Squaw Creek, Slate Creek, Thompson Creek, Railroad Ridge, Robinson Bar, 
Warm Springs Creek, Salmon River, Yankee Fork, Bonanza, Custer, Jordan 
Creek, Mount Estes, Capitan Mountain, Loon Creek, Stanley Basin, West 
Fork, Seafoam, Sheep Mountain, Elk Creek, Joe's Gulch, Germania Basin, 
Copper Basin, North Fork of Lost River, Pahsamari Mountains and the silver 
lead and copper districts near Houston or Big Lost River. Miners are work- 
ing placer and quartz mines in various other localities. Recently more atten- 
tion is being attracted to placer mining, both on river bars and in gulches, and 
the yield of gold dust is increasing annually, and will continue to increase, as 
many new mines of this character are being opened. In all, over 2,000 mining 
claims are on record in the county. 

For the reduction of ores, there are in the county eight milling and smelt- 
ing plants: Bay Horse Mill and Smelter, Clayton Smelter, Houston Smelter, 
Cinnabar Mining Company Mill, Bonanza Mill (Washington County), General 
Custer Mill at Custer, Fourth of July Mill on Mount Custer, and a concentrator 
on the Mountain King Mine at Sheep Mountain. The yield of the precious 
metals in the county since quartz mining became a fixed business (about thir- 
teen years) has usually been from $1,000,000 lo $1,500,000 per annum, with pos- 
sibly $2,000,000 during a period of two or three years. A considerable amount 
of very high-grade custom ores is shipped to Omaha and other points during 
the summer seasons. The yearly output of the mines and mills of the county 
would be largely increased were it not for the protracted depression in the 
silver market, which has been the immediate cause of some of our heretofore 
most productive mines being closed to await action on the question of silver 
remonetization. A like influence has affected the farming communities that 
depend upon the prosperity Of the mining camps for profitable disposal of 
their products. 

In the Idaho Mineral Exhibit can be seen samples of ores from many of 
the gold, silver, copper and lead mines of Custer County. 

The population of Custer County ranges from 2,500 to 3,000. The school 
districts number 12, with an average daily attendance of about 30, or 360 schol- 
ars of school age in the county. 

The principal towns are Challis (county seat), Bay Horse, Clayton, Custer, 
Bonanza, Houston and Crystal. Challis, the county seat, is situated in Round 
Valley, about 65 miles from Ketchum, the nearest railroad point, and 130 from 
Blackfoot. The population is about 500. It is a point of more than ordinary 
importance, being centrally located and beautifully situated near the Salmon 
River, and is a convenient supply point for the county. 

The towns and mining camps of the county have all the educational and 
religious privileges that are to be found in old settled communities. Some 
attention has of late years been given to fruit culture in the county, more par- 
ticularly at Challis. Experiment has demonstrated that all the hardy berries 
and fruits can be cultivated successfully in any of the valleys and adjacent 
uplands. Some fine samples of Custer County fruits may be seen in the Idaho 
Fruit Exhibit, raised at an altitude of 5,200 feet to 5,500 feet. All of the moun- 
tain ranges and foothills are bountifully supplied with timber of the various 
pine species. Coal has been found at different points in the county, but as yet 
has not been successfully mined. 

Custer County cannot be surpassed in its numerous summer resorts and 
sporting grounds. It abounds in trout streams and lakes; and large moun- 
tain game, such as deer, sheep, bear and elk, is common everywhere. The 
Redfish Lakes, near the Sawtooth Mountains, in the west end of the county, 
have long since been a favorite summer and fall resort for tourists during the 
"outing" season. The lakes contain both redfish and trout, and the adjacent 
woods furnish pleasant camping grounds The revenues oflhe county are suf- 
ficient for the expenses, and county warrants command almost their face 
value. 

CASSIA COUNTY. 

The area embraced within the present boundaries of Cassia County origi- 
nally formed a part of the large county of Owyhee. The county faces Snake 
River on the north, with a river frontage of 200 miles, and extends southward 
50 miles to the northern boundary of the State oT Nevada. On the west lies 
the present county of Owyhee, Oneida County forming the eastern boundary. 
The entire absence of railroad communication has retarded the progress of set- 
tlement and improvement; but notwithstanding this drawback and its isolated 
condition, Cassia makes a very fair showing among her more favored sisters 
in the state The county has an area approaching 10,000 square miles, with a 
population of about 5,000. Her resources are stock raising, mining and agri- 
culture. With her 200 miles of river frontage she has some of the best placer 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



mines on Snake River. It was here that placer mining on that stream was 
first prosecuted on a large scale, and it is here that the best results from that 
industry have been obtained. Within the past few years some very valuable 
discoveries have been made of gold and silver bearing ledges, but as capital 
has not yet come to the aid of her miners, and as the means of transportation 
are very inadequate, these mines have not yet been sufficiently tested to make 
them a resource for which much can be claimed. Of patented, improved and 
cultivated lands the county has about 50,000 acres with an assessed valuation 
of $t75,ooo. The unpatented lands which are occupied by settlers, and which 
have been improved to some extent, give a nearly equal acreage. The county 
is fairly well watered by numerous streams flowing from the mountain range 
on the north, and these streams have been fully utilized by local systems of 
irrigation. Wherever cultivated, the soil has proved fertile. The yield in hay, 
grain and vegetables has been fully as large per acre as that of the best and 
longest cultivated lands in the state. Many thousand acres of the best land 
lie contiguous to Snake River. A large canal, now in process of construction, 
takes the water from the river at a point near Idaho Falls and will, in the early 
future, bring an ample supply of water for all the needs of irrigation to all the 
lands of the county not yet provided for. By far the greater part of the large 
area of the county may be classed as pastoral lands, fully equal in every respect 
to the fine summer and winter ranges in Owyhee County. Upon these fine 
natural pastures, 15,000 head of cattle and about 10,000 head of horses, besides 
immense flocks of sheep, are kept, with but little trouble to the stockman and 
herder. The total assessed valuation of all the live stock within the county 
falls but little short of $1,000,000. 

Like most of the other counties of Idaho, Cassia contains minor metals and 
mineral substances of many kinds, among which may be enumerated deposits 
of the very best fireproof mineral paint, large quarries of excellent marble, 
sand stone, granite, mica and many indications of coal. Of these the marble 
deserves especial mention. This is found in large bodies in several localities of 
the county, and much of the marble is of the very best quality, comparing most 
favorably with that found in any section of the United States. These quarries 
being situated in, an isolated district, remote from lines of communication, are 
not generally known and utilized. 

In his report of 1S90, Governor Shoup says : " In spite of all obstacles, the 
industrious people of Cassia have prospered. The towns of Albion and Oakley 
are handsomely located and creditably built. 'I he county affairs are economi- 
cally administered. The exports of this county, though exchanged under 
most unfavorable conditions, are quite large. The climate is moderate and 
healthful. New settlers will find good locations and a fair water supply await- 
ing developments ; they will find peace-loving communities, and public senti- 
ment growing in intelligence and enterprise." 

CANYON COUNTY. 

This county is situated in the southwestern portion of the state, and until 
recently was a part of Ada County. It-embraces some 38 townships of land, 
which range in altitude from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above tidewater. Probably 
500,000 acres of this area may be classed as fruit and farming land (scarcely 
more than one-eighth of which is yet under cultivation), the remainder being 
grazing and mineral land. The climate of this region is one of its greatest 
charms, and we will refer the interested reader to the special article on climate. 

In addition to a magnificent climate, the county possesses a soil so diversi- 
fied, fertile and durable, and a water supply so ample for all vegetation, as to 
make it beyond question one of the most desirable agricultural and horticul- 
tural regions in the world. Nearly every farm and vegetable crop and deciduous 
fruit of the temperate zone can be grown, of excellent quality and in the great- 
est abundance. The county is likewise admirably adapted to special lines of 
husbandry, live-stock raising, both for the shambles and fancy market, dairying, 
bee-keeping and poultry culture. It is also within the comparatively limited 
prune, pear, hop and sugar-beet belt of the world. Phenomenal yields of various 
products of the soil could be cited, such as 1,000 bushels of wheal on 11 acres, 
100 bushels of oats to the acre, 1,000 bushels of onions to an acre, 750 pounds 
from a seven-year old prune tree, 1,559 tons of alfalfa from 225 acres of grass in 
one season , 500 bushels of potatoes to the acre, under ordinary culture. These 
serve to show not the average crop, but the possibilities of the soil; and in this 
connection we extract from a report of the Caldwell Tribune on the exhibits 
made at a fair held in the town a few years since: "The weights and meas- 
ures were taken by reliable parties, and are given below : Tomatoes measur- 
ing 10 to 18 inches in circumference; in a bushel of onions, the smallest one 
measuring s'A inches in diameter, the largest exhibited was 21 inches in cir- 
cumference; 12 pound beets were common — one measured 28 inches in cir- 
cumference; field corn ears were 15 inches in length; a peach 9 inches, an 
apple 13% inches, and a turnip 22% inches in circumference; a carrot was 15 
inches in length and the same in circumference; potatoes measured 15 inches 
long and ioJ4 round ; a radish 18 long by 12^ inches in circumference ; squash 
in circumference, was 5 feet 12 inches and weighed 71^ pounds; a pumpkin 6 
feet 2 inches in circumference and weighed 120 pounds; one tobacco leaf ex- 
hibited measured 25 inches long by 14 inches wide." Without attempting a 
detailed statement of the average yield of all these crops, the assurance can 
be safely given that it will be sufficiently large to satisfy any reasonable am- 
bition. 

Choice fruit, farm, hop and vegetable land can be had at from $5 to $20 per 
acre. The average orchard, in full bearing, pays from $200 to $500 per acre. 
Trees begin to bear at two and three years of age, and at from five to seven 
years of age are producing abundantly. 

Idaho's fruit exhibit at the Columbian Exposition is an object lesson, more 
convincing than volumes of written matter, and places the state in the front 
rank of fruit-producing sections; and this industry alone offers a safe and 
profitable investment for thousands of people. Investigate the fruit business. 



Chief among the resources of this county is its abundant water supply. 
This is of first importance in the arid region. The Snake, Payette and Boise 
rivers are among the largest in the intermountain country, and they are capa- 
ble of furnishing the best irrigation system in the Nation. At present, some 
fifteen canals, varying in length from 10 to 50 miles, are completed, and several 
others are either in contemplation or under construction. These, with ample 
reservoirs, will furnish an unfailing water supply. Water applied to soil means 
more than moisture. It means certainty of crops and nearly always a constant 
enrichment of the land. Hence, the value of a reliable system of irrigation. 

A timber belt, without a superior in the Northwest, embracing hundreds 
of square miles along the headwaters of the Payette and Boise rivers, furnishes 
the lumber that is needed for domestic and commercial purposes, thus insuring 
a lasting supply of this very necessary commodity. Hops yield about 2,000 
pounds to the acre annually, and of first quality. Pork, butter and cheese uni- 
formly command high prices, and great quantities are yearly shipped in from 
other states, every pound of which could and should be produced at home. 
Sheep husbandry is proving very remunerative. An immense free range, well 
watered, is adjacent, upon which sheep feed a good portion of the year, and 
out of which fortunes are being made. A notable example of success in this 
line is that of Mr. Robert Noble, who, scarcely more than a dozen years ago, 
was working for day wages, and who to-day is. the owner of some 45,000 sheep, 
the wool product of which in 1892 was 210,000 pounds, requiring a train of 12 
cars to transport it across the continent to market. Many others have had 
marked success within a few years in the same business —some individuals 
driving as high as 30,000 lambs and wethers to the cheap corn of Nebraska 
and Kansas, to feed during the winter for the Eastern spring markets. 




OLD MISSION, IDAHO. 

Canyon County has undoubtedly either within her borders or directly 
tributary thereto, mineral deposits of amazing extent and richness. One 
hundred miles to the north is the marvelous copper, gold and silver region 
known as the Seven Devils. All who are informed, concede that this is 
destined to rival Butte and Anaconda when it is developed. Fifty miles to the 
south are the great De Lamar, Silver City and South Mountain mines, now 
the scene of unusual activity. Bordering on Snake River at the southern 
boundary of the county are the extensive opal mines of Southern Idaho, from 
which many beautiful and valuable stones are being taken. The new Willow 
Creek mining district, within the county, a recent discovery that promises 
great results, is also being developed. Aside from these, placer mining is now 
attracting wide attention. Much of the sand along the rivers of the county 
is known to be rich in fine gold, and not a few persons are making good wages 
with the "old rocker and burlap." But improved methods are being tested 
which will result in giving placer mining a strong impetus. A company of 
Caldwell capitalists has recently been organized for the purpose of working 
several thousand acres of placer ground located by them on the Payette River, 
and the enterprise promises large results. 

Markets for much that is produced in Canyon County are found in the 
mining camps and cities of Idaho and Montana, and along the Oregon Short 
Line for several hundreds of miles. This is particularly true of fruits and 
vegetables. Fat sheep and cattle go to Omaha, Chicago, Portland, Ore., and 
the cities of Puget Sound. Fruits in car lots are marketed in Denver and 
further east, for which special rates are secured. Prices for all products are 
usually very good. 

The cost of living is quite reasonable. Breadstuffs, vegetables, fruits, fish 
and most other meats are rather below the average prices in the Eastern States. 
Groceries, dry goods, etc., are somewhat higher. Good table board costs from 
$4 to $6 per week. Rents for four and five roomed houses are from $8 to $12 
per month. Farm hands and common laborers receive from $28 to $50 per 
month and board. Day wages are from $1.50 to $2 per day. Carpenters receive 
from $3 to $4 per day, and brick and stone masons and plasterers, about $5 per 
day. A man with team receives from $4 to $5 per day. School teachers com- 
mand from $50 to $100 per month. 



IDAHO-THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



CALDWELL. 



THE COUNTY SEAT OF CANYON COUNTY, 



AND A CENTRE OF AGRICULTURAL 
ACTIVITY. 



Caldwell, the county scat, lias a population of some 1,200 people, atirl is 
located on the Oregon Short Line Railway, nearly midway between Salt Lake 
and Portland, at an altitude of 2,372 feet above sea level Geographically 
it is convenient to all parts of the county, while the general topography of the 
surrounding country gives it a commanding position as a trade and prospec- 
tive railroad and manufacturing centre. The town has large and enterprising 
mercantile houses ami lumber and forwarding companies, some of which do a 
heavy jobbing and wholesale business. It also has one of the strongest national 
banks in the state, and a newspaper of more than local reputation. It has ex- 
cellent public schools, and the new Presbyterian institution of learning, known 
as the College of Idaho. The church organizations represented are Baptist, 
Presbyterian, Methodist, Christian and Catholic. There are also flourishing 
lodges of Odd Fellows, Masons, Knights of Pythias and Good Templars. A 
prosperous home building and loan association has been of great service to 
the town, as has also its board of trade. Water works, free mail delivery and a 
telephone system, broad streets, good sidewalks, substantial business blocks 
and attractive residences are among the evidences of Caldwell's prosperity. 
Electric lights will probably be put in during 1893. The present trade of the 
town extends for 100 miles south, taking in the famous De Lamar, Silver City 
and South Mountain mining districts, and the valuable opal fields of Southern 
Idaho, only 20 miles distant. On the north and east the trade reaches far into 
the great timber, farming and mineral regions of Washington and Boise coun- 
ties: while the new and most promising Willow Creek gold and silver mines 
of Canyon County are directly tributary, being about 20 miles distant, and with 
the easiest possible grades. Many points on the short line railway are also 
supplied by Caldwell merchants. 

The things, then, that insure the permanent growth of Caldwell are : first 
a climate among the healthiest in the world ; second, a location in the very 
heart of a great and peculiarly favored region, possessing a soil, irrigation 
system ami climatic conditions that make it possible to produce all of the lead- 
ing fruit staples, such as apples, pears, prunes, apricots, peaches, nectarines, 
cherries, quinces and small fruits of the highest quality, likewise immense 
farm and vegetable crops, including potatoes equal to the best in the land, 
hops and sugar beets; third, the great and practically inexhaustible mineral 
deposits, lying in nearly all directions, including the extensive placer fields 
that border the Boise, Snake and Payette rivers and their tributaries ; fourth, 
the vast grazing regions at hand, exempt from blizzards and violent extremes, 
probably the best stock range in the intermountain country, and which is 
annually sending to the markets nearly 4,000,000 pounds of wool, 100,000 head 
of mutton sheep and an equal number of fat cattle and horses ; fifth, the hun- 
dreds of square miles of magnificent timber immediately tributary, lying along 
the headwaters of the Payette and Boise rivers; sixth, it is surrounded by a 
prune-growing belt, probably not equaled in the country, and which must 
afford profitable employment for hundreds of families, both in producing and 
in preparing for the market. 

The other towns of the county, which must share, to a greater or less ex- 
tent, the resources of the country already described, and which possess excellent 
local advantages, are Payette, 35 miles northwest of the county seat, near the 
junction of the Payette and Snake rivers, a beautiful and prosperous town in 
the midst of a fine fruit and farm region, with extensive fruit and hop farms and 
nurseries, and a large sawmill. Washoa, a station one mile distant, an im- 
portant lumber and saw-mill point. Wampa, 10 miles southeast of Caldwell, 
is also a flourishing and enterprising place in the centre of a rich agricultural 
section. Four miles north of Caldwell is the pretty and thrifty settlement of 
Middleton, which boasts of the only flouring mill at present in the county. 
Emmett, 20 miles north of the county scat, on the Payette River, is also a con- 
siderable business centre for the rich Upper Payette Valley, and promises to 
become important, and where are also located the extensive saw mills of oueof 
Caldwell's large lumber firms. The other local trading points of the county 
are Falk's Store, on the Payette River, about midway between Emmett and 
Payette; Parma, on the Oregon Short Line, the same distance between Payette 
and Caldwell, and Bowman, 10 miles below Caldwell, on the Boise River. 



When the local and continental lines of railroad already surveyed through 
the county shall have been constructed, and other development work shall 
have been prosecuted, all of which will be brought about at no distant day, 
the entire county will receive an impetus that will enable it to sustain a very 
targe and prosperous population. 

The things needed in Idaho are: more railroads, more capital for mining 
and canal development, more farmers, fruit growers, irrigators, stockmen, bee 
and poultry keepers, more flouring mills, creameries, cheese factories, canner- 
ies, tanneries, woolen mills, smellers and refineries. The time is ripe for a big 
forward movement along these lines, in this the greatest of all the great new 
states. 

The holiday number of the Boise Statesman had this to say of Caldwell: 

The town of Caldwell is now six years old. It is a leading station on the 
Oregon Short Line. It is the point of departure for mail and stage lines in 
many directions It is the trade-distributing point for a vast area. It has a live 
board of trade, a bank, a building and loan association, excellent schools, well- 
sustained churches. We briefly state: 

First — That Caldwell has a larger trade in proportion to its numerical 
population than any town in Idaho. 

Second — That its business men look most closely after its general interests. 

Third — That its growth in buildings and enterprises of a permanent char- 
ter is steady and uniform. 

Fourth -That the irrigating canals now approaching completion in its im- 
mediate vicinity will surround it with a cordon of rich farms, unexcelled in 
Idaho. 

Fifth — That all its plans and every indication for the future points to sta- 
bility and thrift. 

The freights received by railroad at the Caldwell depot for the year ending 
June 30,1889, amounted to 5,598,000 pounds. The freights forwarded during 
the same period were 9,220,000 pounds. The town owns a two-story brick 
schoolhouse, which cost $5,000 two years ago. In it is conducted an excellent 
graded school, by a principal and assistants of acknowledged educational 
ability. 

The Depot Hotel is built and furnished in modern style, at a cost of nearly 
$10,000. The Methodist Church edifice, completed in July, 1889, cost $2,500. 
The Presbyterian church, built in 1S8S, cost nearly $3,000. The Baptist house 
of worship, built in 18S4, cost $1,500. The Odd Fellows' building, built in 1887, 
contains the Stockgrowers and Traders Bank, H. D. Blatchley'sbook and drug 
store, and numerous offices It cost fully $6,000 and is a credit to the town. 

The largest building is occupied by F. R. Coffin & Bro., and M. B Gwinn. 
This is 100 feet front by 120 feet dee)), and cost about $20,000. 

Montie B. Gwinn's wholesale and retail general store occupies 55 feet front 
of this mammoth structure, and is arranged with all the modern convenience; 
for facilitating his extensive business. Mr. Gwinn is a man of untiring activity 
and resource. He believes thoroughly in the motto, "Talk up your town," 
and while this is a good thing for Caldwell, it is also a good thing for himself. 
The resident partner, Sherman M. Coffin, manages the business of Frank R. 
Coffin & Bro. at this point. There may be' another stock of hardware, agricul- 
tural implements, etc., in this territory exceeding in value the one kept at Cald • 
well by this firm; if so, there is not more than one, and not more than two 
equal it. In tasteful arrangement it has no superior. 

Among the recent improvements not already mentioned may he noted the 
beautiful residence of M. B. Gwinn, which cost {3,000; the residence of Doctor 
Maxey, cost $1,500; D. L. Badley's tenant house, $500; M. A. Robert's residence, 
ti<15°\ J- P. Johnson's residence, $1,000; Morris Style's residence, $1,000; A. J. 
Strickland's residence, $2,000; H. D Blatchley's residence, $1,100; Charles 
Sebree's residence, $1,650. William Isaacs is about to build a residence at a cost 
of $3,000. Several of these buildings are in cottage style, and are exceedingly 
tasteful and handsome. The grounds attached are being ornamented, and 
special attention given to the cultivation of trees, grass and flowers. 

As a centre of trade Caldwell attracts to the counters of its business men a 
large percentage of the trade of Long Valley, and of all the rich agricultural 
and mineral region intervening between the two localities; also, a fair portion of 
the trade from Payette Valley below the town of Emmett. To this may be 
added almost the entire trade of the lower half of the Boise Valley, and a large 
portion of the business coming from that section of Eastern Oregon lying con- 
tiguous to Snake River. Still another source of profitable business, belonging 
almost exclusively to Caldwell, is the agricultural and pastoral sections of 
Owyhee County lying between Snake River and the higher elevations of the 
Owyhee Mountains. Through the energy and enterprise, and the intelligent 
liberality of her business men, Caldwell has thus far succeeded in holding and 
controlling her portion of the field of trade as above outlined, and there is every 
reason for believing that, guided and moved by the spirit that now animates 
her citizens, she will not only continue to hold this large and rich field hut that 
it will grow in value to her and expand indefinitely as the years go by. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



NAMPA. 



The Home of Irrigation Profusely and Interest= 
ingly Illustrated. 



Resources of the Rapid Growing City on Lake 
Ethel. 



In presenting the city of Nampa to tlie intelligent reader of Idaho's 
World's Fair Souvenir, it is not the intention of the writer to portray in 
glowing terms the idea that this is a town of every conceivable resource. 
He will, however, attempt to illustrate the marvelous growth of this young 
but thriving town, and give, in as brief a manner as possible, the means by 
which it has grown to the important commercial centre it now is. It would 
consume too much space to de'.ail the history of Nampa from its earliest 
date of settlement to the present time with its 700 population. Briefly speak- 
ing, it may truthfully be said that the old saying, that "It's the people that 
make the town," may be applied to the junction city that connects Boise 
City with the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad. The town is blessed 
with an enterprising and cultured class of citizens, whose every motive is to 
promote their little city to a high degree of prominence. To-day the busi- 
ness and social qualities of Nampa are superior to many towns with double 
her population, and every branch of her several educational and religious 
institutions is conducted in a commendatory manner. 

It must be remembered that Nampa was not platted until the year 1887. 
Mr. Alexander Duffes carefully weighed the surrounding country when he made 
his homestead entry, as it is to-day upon what may be termed the summit 
of the great quantity of lands immediately tributary and affords a most pleasing 
view of the rich and prolific surrounding country. Several attractive struc- 
tures are to be seen here, among which is the Central Public School building, 
which, like a formidable pyramid, overlooks beautiful Lake Ethel. Not only 
are the public buildings of such an importance to the splendid appearance 
of Nampa, but there are many residences noted for their architectural beauty 
Among these may be named those of Alexander Duffes, James McGee, J. M. 
Jones, A. Fouch, J. Steinmeir, George Duval and F. C. Henry. A spacious 
and well-kept hotel is under the management of a thoroughly competent per- 
son, and the banking and business blocks are occupied and extensively stocked 
to supply the demands of the neighboring inhabitants. 

It would be hard to judge the number of acres of lands directly tributary 
to Nampa, but a conservative estimate would place it at 150,000 acres. 

Now, the resources of this town, with such a brilliant and glorious fu- 
ture, may be figured in several ways, but we will consider the vast amount 
of arable land that lies directly tributary, and is, by the efforts of the irriga- 
tionist, being thoroughly watered, made the most productive soil to be found 
anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. As has often been stated, " irrigation is 
king" in the sagebrush districts of Idaho, and the results of its quenching 
capabilities are teeming orchards and thriving grain fields. 

The Boise & Nampa Irrigation, Laud and Lumber Company is the title 
of the enterprise of which Mr. J. M. Jones is the secretary, treasurer and 
general manager. Here a magnificent system of ditches, the total length of 
which is 253 miles, has been constructed, covering 200,000 acres, and a great 
part of the sagebrush swept out of existence. For several years past a canal 
known as the " Ridenbaugh Ditch" had been in operation. It was only 8 
or 9 miles long, and carried but little water, which was taken from the Boise 
River, about 5 miles above the city of that name. The Idaho Central Canal 
and Land Company purchased this canal, who in turn disposed of it to the 
present owners at a large figure, the men who organized the Boise & Nampa 
Irrigation Land and Lumher Company. This latter company was stocked 
for {1,000,000. The officers elected are H. E. Simmons (formerly vice presi- 
dent of the American Investment Company), president; James, A. McGee, of 
Nampa, vice president; J. M. Jones, secretary, treasurer and general man- 
ager, and R. W. Purdum, one of the first residents of the town, assistant 
manager. Having arranged the details of organization and preliminary 
work, these men of energy set about placing their bonds. This was readily 
accomplished through the American Investment Company, the bonds being 
marketed both in the East and in foreign countries. With the proceeds 
made available by the sale of the bonds this company set about its work of 
construction and land reclamation. The work was pushed energetically and 
to-day this section of the country possesses one of the best systems of irri- 
gation west of the Great Divide. 

Of the canal system managed at Nampa, a writer says that the country 
through which the canal runs is one of magnificent formation for artificial 
reservoirs and lakes, of which there will he ten, all very near the city. 

The work of canal construction in this section has been revolutionized. 
By the use of their new ditcher the company has opened up laterals at the 
rate of from three to five miles per day. The cost of ditching a section of 
land is about $100, according to the company's figures, this being remarkably 



low. In fact the attention of many Eastern financiers has been attracted to 
the enterprise, just on account of the cheapness of construction when com- 
pared with the possibilities of profitable returns. This enterprise possesses 
one feature which makes it exceedingly valuable, and that is the facility and 
cheapness with which it can furnish power of all kinds, either for the farmer 
or for any kind of manufacturing industry. From the point of diversion on 
the Boise to the city of Nampa there is a fall of 396 feet, and 165 feet from 
the second lake. Thus it will be noticed that the city possesses ample water 
supply for water works, fire protection and for mills andAvork shops innumer- 
able. And then, after turning the wheels of industry, the life-giving water 
goes to the soil, where it fertilizes countless acres, and adds to the agricultural 
prosperity of the country. 

One hears nothing but words of commendation concerning the business 
propositions of the company. The farmers have been dealt with most lib- 
erally and every effort has been made to aid them in the work of reclama- 
tion and town building. The cost of water is $1.50 per acre per year, or 
$12.50 per acre for perpetual water rights, with a nominal fee to assist in the 
maintenance. It costs but $3 per acre to clear off the sagebrush, and when 
once cleared the ground is susceptible of easy cultivation. The soil is exceed- 
ingly rich, containing all of the elements necessary to plant life. It is decom- 
posed lava and well adapted to all the cereals, clover, timothy and alfalfa. 
The fruits of the temperate zone yield in abundance. Apples, pears, peaches, 
plums, strawberries and watermelons have been grown with magnificent suc- 
cess. The company will set out extensive orchards and sow vast tracts of 
grain during the coming season. With an example thus set before them, the 
farmers of the beautiful Boise and Snake valleys will be stimulated to re- 
newed efforts. The year recently closed has been a successful one in many 
respects for this new enterprise. Water has been furnished to prove up 
8,000 acres; every legal subdivision of 4,000 acres more have been ditched, 
and applications have been received for perpetual water rights for 10,000 
more. 

Of the country tributary to Nampa, a writer says: The town of Nampa, 
situated on the Oregon Short Line Railroad, 20 miles southwest of Boise 
City and 9 miles east of Caldwell, though numbering only a few years of 
existence and a few hundred inhabitants, gives certain promise of rapid 
growth in the early future. It is surrounded on all sides by a wide expanse 
of the most fertile and productive lands on the continent. The number of 
acres of this choice land that will be directly tributary to it — at its very 
doors, so to speak—may be safely estimated at 500,000. The only thing 
that has retarded the growth of the town is the lack of water, and this want 
will soon be supplied by the irrigating canals, now in process of rapid con- 
struction. When these canals reach Nampa, an event that cannot possibly be 
deferred more than a few months at the furthest, a new era of growth and pros- 
perity will dawn upon the town, and it will move forward with the strength 
and the strides of a young giant. Besides the extensive era of fertile lauds 
which Nampa can claim as her own, she will continue to be a successful com- 
petitor for a large share of the trade of the Boise Valley, as well as for that of 
the agricultural sections of Owyhee county. The agricultural resources of the 
town alone will suffice to justify the prediction that within five years Nampa 
will have a large population. But agriculture is only one of the many rich 
resources of this young and promising town. The completion of the canals 
to, through and below Nampa will afford many admirable sites for the erection 
of machinery for varied manufacturing purposes. One of these sites, and 
probably the best on the lines of the canals, is in close contact with the present 
builded portion of the townsite. Here a fall of several feet can be secured, 
quite sufficient to make the water of the canals available for any and all pur- 
poses desired. 

Another large and permanent element of growth is found in the immense 
stock ranges of Owyhee county — a vast region which will continue to be 
utilized for stock-raising purposes. Nampa can justly lay claim, as she is 
already enjoying, a very large percentage of the trade coming from the ship- 
ping of cattle and other stock to Eastern and Western markets Of this large 
trade, the portion which Nampa can claim as exclusively hers is found in the 
herds of fatted beef cattle and other food stock that will be furnished by the 
great army of farmers occupying the land directly tributary to the town. 

It is no wild conjecture to say that Nampa is destined to be a railroad centre, 
'and the natural receiving and distributing point for the extensive region of 
which she is the centre. True it is, that no one can name or locate the railroads 
of the future, or predict with any certainty the changes that the years may 
bring in railroad matters. But Nampa is already an important point on the 
Oregon Short Line and the point of junction with the Idaho Central. It is as 
certain as any future event can be, that the Idaho Central will have extension, 
both east and west. These two roads alone will suffice to place Nampa on an 
equal footing, in point of railroad facilities and advantages, with any other 
town in the State of Idaho. 

Nampa occupies a commanding position in the great, natural pathway of 
all the railroads that will in the future be built to connect the upper half of the 
Mississippi Valley with the great West; and her chances of being touched by 
all of them is equal to those of any other town on the Oregon Short Line. 

In point of beauty of situation and salubrity of climate, no locality in the 
great intermountain region can claim precedence over Nampa. For pictur- 
esque, romantic and varied scenery, combining every feature that can please the 
eve and delight the heart, there is no spot that can surpass the picture which 
Nampa will present after a few years of cultivation shall have converted her 
broad and fertile plains into productive fields, meadows and orchards. 

Of the intelligent foresight, energy and entei prise of her citizens Nampa 
has no need to boast. Their work and their genuine staying qualities show for 
themselves, and are a certain guarantee of her bright and prosperous future. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 







IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




GLIMPSES OF NAMPA ACROSS LAKE ETHEL, 




INDIAN SCHOOL AT FORT LAPWAI. 



IDAH0=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



o 

w 
o 
o 




IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




IDAHO^THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



ELrlORE COUNTY. 

This county once formed a part ol the original county ol Alturas, which 
has since been carved into the counties of Alturas, Elmore and Logan. The 
first settlements made, and the first mining enterprises prosecuted, within the 
region now coveted by those three counties were in what is now Elmore County. 
Mines were discovered and worked here as early as the summer of 1S63. The 
northern portion of the county is a mountainous region, drained by t lie North 
and South Boise rivers and their tributaries. These mountains are high and 
rugged, and covered for the most part with a dense forest growth, affording 
almost inexhaustible supplies of the finest timber. The mining towns of Rocky 
Bar and Alturas are situated in this mountain section, and it was around these 
as centres that the first mines were discovered and worked. During the earlier 
period of mining operations the output of the precious metals was very con- 
siderable. The mines are to-day as good as ever, many of them better, but a 
variety of causes have combined to make mining in this section less ardently 
pursued than it was in former years. The discovery of rich galena deposits in 
the Wood River country and other discoveries and mining excitements drew 
off a very large portion of the mining population, and the same causes, to- 
gether with the fact that this mining section is quite isolated, difficult of access 
and remote from the lines of transportation, have prevented the attention of 
miners from being attracted to the field thus partially deserted. Lately, how- 
ever, the interest in mining is beginning to revive with the certainty of ap- 
proaching railroads and the general rapid increase of population in the state. 
There are good reasons for the hope that a railroad will traverse this moun- 
tain region within two years at the furthest. When this is realized, mining 
operations will be revived on a large scale, and even lumber making will set 
in, and the vast wealth of mine and forest that has so long been dormant will 
give this portion of the county the prominence to which it is entitled. 

Southward of the mountain section and extending to Snake River, we 
have more than one-half of the entire area of the county composed of fertile 
land, much of which has already been reclaimed and cultivated, though there 
are several hundreds of thousands of acres of choice land for which irrigation 
has not yet been provided. The available water supply will eventually prove 
sufficient for this, but the capital for the construction of canals is thus far want- 
ing. The total assessed valuation of property in the county approximates 
$1,230,000. Of this the valuation of 17,000 acres of improved, patented lands is 
about $90,000, and the valuation of 5 000 head of stock cattle and 2,000 head of 
horses aggregates about $120,000. 

The growth of Elmore County has not been so rapid as that of some other 
counties in the state, but it is quite satisfactory, all things considered. The 
area of the county is a little less than 6,000 square miles, while but a small per- 
centage of this area can be justly called worthless. The county, taken as a 
whole, is very rich in natural resources, and her people can well afford to bide 
their time for the growth and development that are certain to come with the 
general advance of the county. 



MOUNTAIN HOME. 



The Commercial Centre and County Seat of 
Elmore County. 



It is usually found that the seat of a county government is the centre of 
trade and, therefore, it naturally grows to be the chief city of the district em- 
bodied in the county in which it is located. Situated upon the Union Pacific 
Railway, about 542 miles from Portland, Ore., may be found an enterprising and 
rapidly-growing city, which is no exception to this rule. 

With an increasing population of about 500 persons, Mountain Home, the 
county seat of Elmore County, Idaho, lies in one of the most productive agri- 
cultural and horticultural regions known in the irrigated districts of Idaho. 

As has been fully demonstrated in this work relative to irrigation, all that 
is needed to make the great sagebrush deserts of Idaho the most prolific and 
lucrative agricultural spots in the Northwest is the building of ditches and 
reservoirs to utilize the abundance of water that the ever-quenching streams of 
Southern Idaho have at the disposal of the irrigatiouist or farmer. 

The county seat of Elmore County takes great pride in publishing the fact 
that within her immediate vicinity every advantage is being taken of what Na- 
ture alone has done to water the thirsty sagebrush district in which she is 
located, and that there is to-day a complete reservoir system in operation at 
and near this point. It must also be stated that there is in course of erection at 
Mountain Home a reservoir that will have a capacity that will excel any simi- 
lar construction in the State of Idaho. 

Immense capital has been invested in the industry which alone would push 
Mountain Home to a front rank in the lines of commercial centres. These 
enormous investments are none other than promoting the irrigation of the 1111- 
watered lands. 

It must be understood, however, that this section is not void of former cul- 
tivation, for to-day there may be found thrifty fields of superior grain and teem- 
ing orchards of excellent fruit trees, all bearing in a most advantageous manner. 

Besides being the distributing point of so rich an agricultural section, Moun- 
tain Homeclaimsthe honor of statingthat the largest output of wool in the State 
of Idaho is registered at her warehouses, the shipment this year having already 
reached 1,000,000 pounds. A rival town would look upon this statement with 



envy, but jealousy would necessarily cease when the entire live-stock industry 
of Mountain Home Valley is considered. Immense quantities of horses, cattle 
and sheep are shipped from this point yearly. 

Daily stages traverse the remote sections of Elmore County, which include 
the rich mineral and forest districts. Daily communication is made with 
Rocky Bar and Pine Tree and tri-weekly stages make trips to Atlanta, Grand 
View , Castle Creek and Oneana. In this way it will be seen that Mountain 
Home is the supply point of a vast belt of country with diversified resources. 

The city of Mountain Home is most beautifully located on what was once 
nothing but a sea of bunch grass. Imbued with an unusual spirit of enterprise, 
her citizens have aided and caused to be built a most home-like, consequently 
comfortable, and attractive town. It is well platted, with broad and level 
streets bordered on either side with beautiful shade trees and well-built side- 
walks. The religious and educational facilities are in keeping with those of 
Eastern towns and her municipal government is in the hands of citizens who 
are loyal to the little city they represent. The different lines of mercantile 
business are well represented, and the volume of exchange is of a character 
that speaks loudly for the prolific district that lies tributary to her gates. An 
ably-edited and well-circulated newspaper goes forth weekly and expounds to 
the world, in a clear, authentic and concise manner, the news of general interest 
which is afforded in the busy section of this city. 

Information as to every branch of industry that may be applied within the 
section in or about Mountain Home will be promptly rendered upon appli- 
cation to the Board of Trade 

IDAHO COUNTY. 

Idaho is the largest county in the Stale of Idaho and one of the largest in 
the United States. It occupies the heart of Idaho and extends from Oregon on 
the west to Montana on the east. Its western base is washed by the waters of 
Snake River, and it is bounded on the east by the Bitter Root Mountains, a dis- 
tance of nearly 200 miles. From north to south it covers an even greater dis- 
tance. Through the centre of this great area Salmon River and its multitudinous 
tributaries drain the largest and least known scope of mineral country on the 
Pacific Slope. Through its northern limits flows the noble Clearwater, the 
largest affluent of Snake River, draining on the west slope of the Bitter Root 
Divide the finest forests of yellow pine, tamarack, red fir and cedar on the con- 
tinent. Throughout the region drained by these streams are vast areas of 
unexplored country, whose surrounding characteristics indicate extensive 
mineral zones containing large deposits of the royal metals. In Idaho County- 
is situated the great Camas Prairie. Ex-Governor Stevenson, in his report to 
the Secretary of the Interior for iSSS, speaking of this region, said: "Being 
perfectly familiar with the great Northwest, I have no hesitation in saying no 
other locality offers more or better inducements to the homeseeker than this 
county. The people are enterprising, intelligent and progressive. A com- 
plete system of road and school districts is in operation, and the fine farms, 
buildings, orchards and other improvements on every side tell the traveler 
that this is the home of a happy, prosperous and thriving people." Of this 
great Camas Prairie it can justly be said that the Almighty never planned so 
big a piece of country will) less waste land. It is a part of the great Clearwater 
Basin, which the Nez Perce Indians have so long monopolized as their reser- 
vation. Its peculiar situation between the mountains secures plenty of natural 
rainfall; consequently, irrigation is not required. Grain, hay, vegetables and 
fruit are here grown to the greatest perfection and with comparatively little 
expense. The drawback these people have to contend with is to find a market 
for their products, as there is not a mile of railroad in the county at present. 
Millions of bushels of wheat could be grown for export, but as producers have 
to freight by team 60 miles to Lewiston, the head of navigation on Snake River, 
they content themselves with raising only sufficient of the cereals to supply a 
home market at the mining camps in the surrounding mountains. Owing to 
the absence of an outside market for their products the residents of Camas 
Prairie are largely engaged in stock raising, and the pursuit of agriculture is a 
secondary consideration. Nearly everybody has cattle, horses and hops to sell 
and the sales of live stock aggregate $80,000 annually. The Prairie, the adjoin- 
ing Indian reservation, the river canyons and the vacant lands not yet taken 
up, all combine to make the Camas Prairie portion of Idaho County a paradise 
for the professional stockgrower, for here is found a combination of the finest 
bunch-grass range, with abundant water and a milder climate than any other 
locality possesses. Stock growing is, indeed, theprincipal industry of Idaho 
County, and very nearly one- half of its taxable property is found in its herds 
of live stock. There is more diversified farming here than in any other county 
in the state, and this perhaps accounts for the prosperity of its inhabitants. 
Thus it will be seen that every element of prosperity lies at the doorstep of 
every man who has the good fortune to acquire title to a tract of the fertile soil 
of Camas Prairie. Tickle it with a plow and it will laugh you a harvest of 
flour. Camas Prairie must necessarily be the supply point for a tributary min- 
eral and lumbering region for a distance of 150 miles. 

Although growing to importance slowly, owing chiefly to her great dis- 
tance from the settled portions of the country, the difficulty of access, the 
fear of Indians ami the little that is known of her resources, it is not hard to 
perceive that Idaho is a county of great value, and that great as the changes 
have been in the last ten years, they will be still greater in the next, viewing 
the prospect for more rapid growth in the light of the character of population' 
the facilities for reaching the county which the railroad companies are now 
providing, and the flood of light which has recently shone upon her resour- 
ces. In point of fact Idaho County has a greater diversity of resources than 
any other county in the slate, and her products are beginning to excite the 
attention of the country and awakening it to the conviction that it has pro- 
ductive capabilities not heretofore suspected. The business of farming com- 
menced in Camas Prairie nearly thirty years ago, and in all that time there 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



has never been a total failure of crops. There is, therefore, no point of this 
beautiful and glorious section that has not its fertility and values thoroughly 
established. With the enjoyment of ample and regular railroad transportation 
assured in the near future, nothing is now wanted but people to occupy Camas 
Prairie fully — an active, enterprising, sagacious people, who will appreciate, 
utilize, extend and increase the blessings they enjoy. 

The population of Idaho County, according to the census of 1890, was 2,952. 
Since then, however, it has more than doubled. Its property valuation is about 
$1,250,000. It has 25 school districts, with 1,021 school children, and in 1892 we 
expended $9,069 05 of county revenue for educational purposes. 

But great as the agricultural possibilities of Idaho County are, the most 
important factor in its growth and development will be the production of its 
mines. These not only furnish work for our own people, but for men from 
other counties, and thus make a profitable home market for the products of 
our farm lands. Having such mines practically in our midst has been the 
means of placing labor and wealth in the hands of all, and it is an industry 
that must necessarily increase in the immediate future. The Clearwater 
country has been aptly termed the "Mother of Gold," because the discoveries 
which led to the first settlement of the country in i860 were the wonderfully 
rich placer fields of Pierce City, Oro Fino, Elk City, Florence, Warrens and 
the rich bars of the Clearwater River, from which millions of dollars of gold 
were extracted, and whose product to-day places Idaho County second in the 
list of gold-producing counties in the state. The product of our placer fields 
will hereafter be enormously increased through the operations of capitalists 
who are opening up the fiat placer ground by dredge and other improved sys- 
tems which were beyond the reach of individuals. 

The quartz and placer mines of Warrens district on the south side of Sal- 
mon River, always good, are now producing better than ever, owing to the 
construction by the state of a wagon road into the camp from the north and 
south, thus permitting the introduction of heavy machinery and reducing the 
high freight tariff which the miners have had to pay for thirty years on every 
necessary of life. Warrens is an important camp, and its prospects of growth 
and new development were never so bright as at this moment. It produces 
the richest gold quartz ever found in Idaho, and mining operators will find 
it a.most inviting field. 

But the future great gold camp of Idaho County, and, indeed, of all Idaho, 
is in Elk City district. The quartz ledges of this camp are exclusively gold 
bearing and vary in size from 1 foot to 30 feet in width. The ore will average 
in value from $8 to $20 per ton. A vast amount of development work is being 
done, but the owners being principally poor men, there are not many de- 
veloped properties in the district at present. The Buster, near Elk City, and 
the Cleveland, on Relief Creek, 10 miles soul h, are the only claims developed 
to any depth, and they show up handsome veins of ore of very uniform 
quality. Mineralogically, the ores of the camp consist of a quartz gaugue, carry- 
ing free gold and iron pyrites. Quartz is a characteristic matrix, though other 
matrices occur. They are universally concentrating ores. 

The ores of Elk City are called "low grade "in this county, but in California 
they would be termed high-grade ores. The Idaho Mine, of Grass Valley, is 
worked to a depth of 2,000 feet on ore that averages $6 per ton. This mine has 
yielded $11,000,000 in gold and paid $5,000,000 in dividends. In Sierra County 
the Sierra Buttes Mine has yielded $8,000,000, and is worked to a depth of 3,000 
feet, with not an ounce of ore exceeding $7 per ton in value. The character of 
these ores is identical with those of Elk City, and the process of reduction is 
the same, viz : milling and concentrating. 

The state has now under construction a wagon road from Grangeville to 
Elk City, a distance of 50 miles, to cost $8,000, which will prove of great value 
to the camp. Investors seeking gold propositions will do well to investigate 
the mines of Elk City district In Idaho County. 

The principal town in Idaho County is Grangeville, in the heart of Camas 
Prairie. It is a farmer's, miner's, stockman's and prospector's trading point, 
and does a very large mountain trade, as well as supplying the smaller stores 
all over the county. The town was established in 1874, and has a population 
of 850 souls. Among its social organizations are a Methodist academy, Metho- 
dist and Episcopal churches with resident ministers, a brass band, choir and 
orchestra, Odd Fellows', Masonic and Patrons of Husbandry lodges, a strong 
military company, a Chautauqua circle, a public graded school system and 
other indications of culture and refinement not usually found in so isolated a 
community. The town is building up with great rapidity, and the prospect of 
railroad connections in the next few months, together with the building of the 
state wagon road system connecting it with the mining camps to the north, 
east and south, as well as the opening of the adjoining Nez Perce Indian Res- 
ervation of 765,000 acres of additional tributary farming lands, all conspire to 
place it in position to speedily become one of the most important towns in the 
state. All the manufacturing, banking, express and commercial business of 
this great county is transacted in Grangeville. Wood and lumber is obtained 
from the timber belt two miles south of the town. Water is found at six to 
twenty feet. A new sehoolhouse has been built, its population, wealth and 
business is rapidly increasing, and the formation of a new social and commer- 
cial world is being moulded into form. The State Agricultural Experiment 
Station is located here, and the citizens are strongly exerting themselves to 
secure the location of the State Agricultural College, the Soldiers' Home and 
State Normal School. Deposits of lime, granite and-other building materials 
are close at hand. Quartz and placer mines are being developed within ten 
miles of the town. Several saw and planing mills are being operated in the 
near vicinity, and every adjunct in the way of natural resources and public 
spirit and enterprise exist. Grangeville is a rising town, and, in the slang of 
the day, a good town to keep your eye on. 



KOOTENAI COUNTY. 

Occupying the extreme northern portion of the State of Idaho and forming 
by its peculiar shape what is known as the Idaho "Panhandle," Kootenai 
County presents an approximate area of 18,000 square miles, with a surface so 
diversified, so replete with grand and interesting natural features, so richly 
endowed with varied and inexhaustible resources and with all the favoring 
conditions and advantages, that to those who know this charming and attrac- 
tive region it is one of the many wonders and surprises encountered here in 
the great and golden West that a section of country like this should still be so 
partially known and so little appreciated. Good Water, rich mines, fine timber, 
great water power, temperate climate and the best agricultural land are the 
characteristics of this county ; yet few Eastern people are aware that a region 
so favored exists in the far away Northwest. Large mountain areas, covered 
with the usual forest trees found in this latitude, furnish sources for fuel and 
lumber sufficient for the needs of all future generations. There are three beau- 
tiful lakes, Pend d'Oreille, Cceur d'Alene and a host of others of minor size, all 
filled with delicious trout and surrounded by towering mountains, in whose 
cool and shady recesses the hunter will find every description of wild game, 
from the elk and caribou to the chattering pine, squirrel. Brooks of sparkling 
cool water fed by perennial springs go babbling down the mountain sides to 
join their sister streamlets on their way to the great river of the West. There 
is no more healthful region in Idaho. Warmed and made genial by the kindly 
ocean current that sweeps along the western Pacific Coast, the balmy air is 
forced, by the western winds that prevail during the winter, up and along the 
Columbia audits tributaries and diffused throughout the interior, its effects 
being everywhere felt, giving a winter climate to this high northern latitude 
that is entirely beyond the comprehension and belief of the shivering citizens 
of localities on the same parallel east of the Rocky Mountain chain. Thus the 
winter climate of Kootenai County is as mild as that of any other portion of 
climate-favored Idaho excepting the valleys of the great rivers, where a much 
lower altitude compels a slight difference; while the summer climate is what 
is everywhere found among the Idaho mountains, where forest shades and 
cool and refreshing streams temper the summer heat to a degree that makes 
mere existence a delight. Here in this favored region, streams, lakes and 
mountains combine to make natural scenery of unrivaled beauty and loveli- 
ness. Sites for homes, where every natural feature and condition for pleasure 
and comfort abound, are open alike to rich and poor. 

The mines of Kootenai County form, virtually, as yet an unopeu storehouse 
of boundless wealth. The great wealth of the Cceur d'Alene mines and those 
of other sections of the state and the large mining operations in the better 
known mining sections have prevented any considerable attention being given 
to a region equally rich in the precious metals and quite equal in the extent of 
its mineral deposits to that of any other section. In Kootenai County there is 
a great quartz belt, the like of which the world has never seen. This great 
belt crops out at irregular intervals across the entire length of the mountain 
area and extends into the British possessions. It appears in the Weber group, 
«Jumbo, Eagle and other properties around Chloride and the Homestake in the 
Granite district. There it disappears beneath Pend d'Oreille Lake and crops 
out again six miles north of Hope. Next we find it on the Yak, and from there 
it goes on, grander, stronger, richer, until it reaches the big silver leads of the 
Kootenai Mining and Smelting Company. 

The agricultural resources of the county can be best judged by the amount 
of laud owned, cultivated and improved. The lack of reliable statistics makes 
it impossible to give this with entire accuracy, but the number of acres now 
occupied and cultivated cannot be much short of 200,000 acres. This county 
has a broad area of fertile prairie land in one continuous body, besides numer- 
ous valleys along the streams which drain the more mountainous portion. The 
agricultural products embrace all the cereals and vegetables grown elsewhere 
in Idaho. Fruit trees of many varieties also grow luxuriously and bear abun- 
dantly. The northern portion of the county is traversed by the Northern Pa- 
cific and the Great Northern railways. These two great transcontinental 
thoroughfares, with the branches and feeders which the growth of the country 
will necessitate, afford ample facilities for travel and transportation. 

The present population of Kootenai County may be stated approximately 
at 6,000, and its assessed valuation of property at $32,000,000. 

As a summary of the resources and advantages of this county, here is 
what Governor Shoup says in his report of 1890 : "The county is attracting 
attention for many reasons. First is the diversity of its resources. Its forests 
will furnish employment for men and money for the next hundred years. It 
has a larger variety of timber than other counties of Idaho, and will become 
the seat of manufactures on a large scale. Its climate and soil facilitate agri- 
cultural productions of the greatest variety and abundance. It is the best 
watered section for hundreds of miles, as it has large lakes and broad, clear, 
deep rivers. Its mines are constantly increasing in value and productive- 
ness. All the resources are combined by easy water and railway com- 
munications, facilitating exchange of productions and giving employment to 
all kinds of labor. Kootenai County in natural scenery cannot be excelled. 
Thousands of tourists find its lakes, rivers, mountains and valleys a perpetual 
source of health and pleasure. There is no pleasanter spot during July and 
August, no location better deserving the title of the ' Hunters' Paradise.' " 

Kootenai is the home county of Hon. James M. Wells, Idaho's Columbian 
Commissioner; and while the commissioner has every reason to be proud of the 
county which contains his home, and which he has so long honored, Kootenai 
County and the entire state are also proud of its representative, who has 
labored so indefatigably and successfully to give Idaho her proper place in the 
great Columbian Exposition. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



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IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



LOGAN COUNTY. 

Logan County is centrally located and occupies an important position 
among the counties of Southern Idaho. This county originally formed a 
part of old Alturas County. It has an area of 7,000 square miles, with a popu- 
lation approaching 4,000. Within the eastern half of the county is embraced 
the interesting section known from the first white occupation of the coun- 
try as the great Camas Prairie. 

This section forms the most important tract of agricultural lands in 
Logan County. It extends cast and west on either side of the Malad River 
a distance of 100 miles. The tillable area is 80 miles long, and has an aver- 
age width of about iS miles. Every foot of this tract is available for agri- 
culture, and but a few years will elapse before it will all be owned and cul- 
tivated. The prairie is a high plateau at an estimated average altitude of 
S,ooo feet. Unlike most portions of Southern Idaho, irrigation in this district 
is unnecessary. Underneath the rich soil, at a depth of but a foot or two, 
is a substratum impervious to water, so that the water that soaks into the 
soil from the melting snows in the mountains remains close to the surface, 
affording what is called "sub-irrigation." The climate on the prairie is de- 
lightful. Snow falls about the middle of December, remaining on the ground 
until about the middle of March. The weather is not cold ; the air being 
light and dry, the cold is felt but little. As soon as the snow goes oft" the 
tarmer can commence plowing. The principal crops are wheat, oats, barley 
and hay. The average yields are: wheat, 35 bushels; oats, 60 bushels; and 
barley, 50 bushels per acre. The county is well adapted for the industry of 
stock raising. The melting snows in the spring months give abundant 
moisture to maintain a luxuriant growth of grass for the herds during the 
summer months. On the approach of winter the herds find a fine winter 
range along the Snake River, where rain falls during the months that the 
snow falls in the northern part of the county. By moving stock back and 
forth with the changing seasons it is kept in good condition the year round, 
with but little extra feeding. The number of cattle, horses and sheep now 
kept upon the ranges in the county will count well up toward 50,000. 

The mining districts are situated in the northern portion of the county, 
with Bellevue, the county seat, as a centre of operations and a supply point. 
The mines consist of gold and silver bearing ledges, many of which have been 
worked sufficiently to fully demonstrate their extent and richness. Some 
causes have operated to bring on short suspensions and lulls in the prosecution 
of this industry, but a general revival of the mining interest has now set in, 
and the mining districts of Logan County will be certain to share in this era of 
prosperity. This county has been too long a profitable field for mining devel- 
opment to permit the slightest doubt of its mineral wealth now. Millions have 
been mined, and millions more will be extracted from the gold and silver ledges 
of Logan County. There are about 300,000 acres of excellent forest lands in the 
county, sufficient for fuel and lumber during several generations. More than 
4,000,000 feet of lumber are annually manufactured from these forests. 

Bellevue, the county seat, is the largest town in the county, and has a pop- 
ulation of about 1,000. The town is pleasantly situated near the northern boun- 
dary of the county, with some of the finest mines in the state in the immediate 
vicinity, and at the gateway to the interesting Wood River country. The 
southern half of the county extends from the Camas Prairie section on the 
north toSnake River on the south, and embracesa Iargearea of the finest sage- 
brush lands. These lands, of course, require irrigation to make them available 
for agriculture. This has been provided to a certain extent, but much yet re- 
mains to be done in this direction. The local streams can all be utilized for the 
purposes of irrigation, and these alone will assist in reclaiming large areas of 
fertile lands. The rest can all be reached by a canal from Snake River, where 
the water supply is inexhaustible. 

The flourishing town of Shoshone is the junction of the Union Pacific 
Railway line and its Wood River branch. This town has already grown to be- 
an important trading point and has a large business, derived from the grow- 
ing agricultural and grazing regions that surround it. 

A most interesting feature in the topography of the county is found along 
its frontage on Snake River, where many of the great natural wonders of that 
truly wonderful river are found. Among these may be mentioned the great 
Shoshone Falls, the Twin Falls, three miles above, and the intervening rapids 
and cataracts. The river winds between high perpendicular walls of basalt, 
offering at every turn the most magnificent pictures of wild anil rugged scen- 
ery. In the neighborhood of the great falls are the Blue Lakes, a most ro- 
mantic spot, framed in by towering basaltic cliffs on every side. At a point 
several miles below the falls, from the upper section of the cliffs that front the 
river on the Logan County side, great springs gush out from some, as yet un- 
known, source, and, deluging the sides of the cliff, collect into a large stream 
which finds its way into the river. Most of these grand and interesting natural 
features will be found illustrated in this work. 

LATAH COUNTY. 

When it comes to a comparison of the agricultural resources of the different J 
counties of Idaho, Latah will be found robed in an air of independence, which 
is sustained by the fact that her qualifications for producing all the fruits and 
cereals known to the agricultural world are unequaled and unnpproached. It ] 
was not so very many years ago that the immigrant would have ridiculed the 
idea of an attempt to cultivate and raise agricultural products upon the bunch- 
grass hills of the Palouse and Potlatch districts. But within the few years that 
have been devoted to farming in that region, the fact has been demonstrated 
that not a country in the world can compare with the enormous >ield of grain 
that has been placed upon record in the statistical houses of not only the 
United States, but of the entire world. It is not necessary to stipulate I hat 
Latah County is fortunately blessed with unlimited resources, but that which 



she begs to have said is, that she leads all in the yield of wheat. As before 
stated, Latah County embraces part of the famous Palouse and Potlatch 
wheat belts. Here the soil is of a deep black loam and Nature serves this 
favored spot with all the moisture necessary to the growing of crops. The 
attention of the farmers is given to the growing of wheat, oats, barley. rye, 
flax and all the fruits which orchardists usually cultivate for a profit. Fruit 
growing, however, is yet in its infancy, as the farmer has never given his 
attention to that industry owing to the immense income derived from wheat 
production. Latah County takes great pleasure in stating that it was in this 
vicinity that .101 bushels of wheat was raised and harvested upon an acre of 
ground. It will be very hard for our Eastern friends to believe this, but 
affidavits may be seen to that effect upon application to any interested person 
living in the neighborhood of Latah. Residents of the old Eastern slates 
will also wonder in astonishment when they are told that some of the land 
in this section will and does bring as much money per acre as do the im- 
proved and cultivated farms of New England. It may clearly be seen why the 
land is so valuable. Wheat will average in the neighborhood of from 35 to 60 
bushels per acre, and the price is seldom below 60 cents per bushel ; so it will be 
seen that it pays to invest in land that has never been known to fail in giv- 
ing the farmer a good crop. Such a thing as a failure of a crop in the 
Palouse and Potlatch country is unknown, and the cultivator is always sure 
of a fair yield. The area of Latah County is 1,100 square miles, of which 
at least three-fourths is available for farming purposes. The wheat yield of 
the county has reached in the neighborhood of 1,000,000 bushels, and when 
the entire county is placed under cultivation, it is safe to say that the pro- 
duction of wheat in this county will exceed that of the present yield of the 
entire state. In his report of 1S90, Governor Shoup says: "The rapid 
growth of this most prosperous county is shown by comparing the assess- 
ment returns of 1889 and 1890. The total assessed value of property of the 
county in 1SS9 was $1,203,192; in 1890 it is given as above $2,771,143. This 
is an increase of 130.3 per cent in one year, a growth not equaled by any 
county in the state, and it is possible, not equaled by any important county 
in the United States." 

Another of Latah's lucrative resources is her timber. Here may be found 
beautiful specimens of pine, fir, spruce, tamarack and cedar. The timber is cut 
to a great extent, the annual output reaching in the neighborhood of 20,000,000 
feet of lumber. The county does not pose as a mineral-bearing district, but it 
is within her boundaries that is mined the opal that has given the section such 
a widely known reputation. The specimens from these opal mines are superior 
to most any others that have heretofore been exhibited by other countries. 
Soft coal undoubtedly lies in the region covered by Latah County, and the 
famous Muscovite mica mine cannot be placed second to any of its kind. 

There are several good towns in Latah County, of which Moscow is the 
larger, and as to population, it will rival Boise City very closely. It is here 
that the State University is located, and the imposing structures that adorn 
the broad and level streets of Moscow would be a credit to a city of ten 
times the size. A page illustration in this number will portray an idea of 
the appearance of the business centre of the metropolis and clearly set forth 
the validity of Latah's capital. 

While stock raising is not looked upon as a principal industry in Latah 
County, cattle and horses receive a great deal of attention by the residents. 
They have given much time and care to the raising of blooded stock, par- 
ticularly horses. 

LE/1HI COUNTY. 

Lemhi is one of the isolated and mountainous counties of Idaho. It is pre- 
eminently a mining county, though it has other splendid resources. As early 
as the summer of 1866, a parly of prospectors found their way into this moun- 
tain region and discovered rich placer diggings seventeen miles west of the 
present town of Salmon City, at a place called Leesburg or Salmon River 
Basin, and an influx of miners was the result. The basin was in Idaho County, 
the county seat of which was at Florence, 800 miles distant by the nearest 
traveled route. By an act of the territorial legislature in 1S69, Idaho County 
was divided and the county of Lemhi created and organized. Placer mining 
is still being carried on extensively in several districts of the county, the area 
of placer mining ground yet unworked being very large. The large number 
of mining districts within the county precludes the possibility of particular 
mention, but the facts that Lemhi has held si. large a percentage of her mining 
population, and that .1 lai ge amount of 1 Lpital has been attracted to the county 
and permanently invested in mining enterprises, afford sufficient proofs that 
this industry is on a permanent and sure fooling. 

Salmon City is the county seat of Lemhi County. It is pleasantly situated 
at the junction of Lemhi and Salmon rivers. It was laid out in 1867, and is sur- 
rounded by a rich agricultural region. The supplies for Leesburg and several 
other mining camps are transported upon pack animals, but the camps down 
the 1 iver are supplied by flat boats which are built at Salmon City. These boats 
never return to the scene where they were built, owing to the rapid current. 
After reaching their d "St illation and discharging their cargo, the boats are 
taken to pieces and the nails and lumber used for other purposes. 

As an agricultural region, the valleys of the Lemhi, Salmon and I'alisamari 
cannot be surpassed. Wheat, oats, barley and all kinds of vegetables return 
as large a yield per acre as in the great Snake River Valley. The county's 
share of patented and improved lands is some 20,000 acres. The immense un- 
developed resources of Lemhi offer a standing protest against the long and un- 
accountable delay in the matter of providing railroad transportation Though 
the surface of the county is mountainous, it offers no greater engineei n 
ficulties than are found in numerous other sections through which railroads 
have been constructed. Recent surveys, very carefully made, through the 



IDAHO=THE_ GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



heart of this mountainous region, with a view of building a road from Butte, 
Mont., to Boise City, in Idaho, fully proved that a railroad is easily practicable 
at a moderate cost per mile. With this road or any other built, every branch 
of industry and the development of every interest of the county would receive 
a new impetus, and thus a rich and interesting mountain community would 
move at once into its proper place in the very first rank among the wealthiest 
counties of the state. Lemhi County is also deserving of special notice as being 
the home of one of Idaho's United States senators, George L. Shoup. It was 
here that he made his first home many years ago, when Idaho was a young 
territory and when the county in which he settled was an isolated and sparsely 
inhabited portion of the Western wilderness. When public duties permit, it is 
to his old home in Lemhi County, where he still has his residence and where 
he conducts a large business, that Senator Shoup loves to return and enjoy what 
falls to his share, in a very busy life, of comfort and leisure. 

NEZ PERCE COUNTY. 

The one that could be called an historical county is that of Nez Perce, 
which has borne that name from the earliest days of Idaho Territory and when 
she was at least six times as large as the present area. It embraced what is 
now Idaho, Latah and Shoshone counties. A glance at the map will portray 
the immense area covered by old Nez Perce. Even now the country in- 
cluded within her limits covers nearly the entire Nez Perce Indian Reser- 
vation, which alone sums up about 275,000 acres of the very best agricultural, 
timber and grazing lands. The majority of the farmers of the county give 
their attention greatly to diversified farming, but one would hardly suppose 
this to be when it is stated that about 1,000,000 bushels of grain is harvested 
each year. The yield in all cereals here is up to the average for this country. 
It must be remembered that Nez Perce embraces a part of the Talouse and 
Potlatch agricultural districts, and these are acknowledged the leading grain- 
producing sections of the entire Northwest. The low altitude which so 
greatly favors the country along the Snake and Clearwater rivers in the 
county of Nez Tcrce has caused it to be the banner fruit -raising section of 
the state. In the vicinity of Lewiston the fruit yield exceeds even that of 
the semi-tropical valleys of California. It will be noticed that the altitude 
is but 650 feet above sea level, and the climate makes the entire year nothing 
more than a mild and refreshing spring or summer day. Now, for com- 
parison, we will quote Mr. J. H. Evans, manager of the Riverside Fruit 
Farm near Lewiston. Among other things, Mr. Evans in his monograph on 
grape culture says: 

"In calling attention of horticulturists to the Snake River Valley as a 
grape-producing region, it will be with reference to the growth of the foreign 
varieties, not that the natives may be grown herewith even more ease, but 
where the foreign can be successfully produced the natives become of insig- 
nificant importance. The grape has proved itself adapted to so great a di- 
versity of soils that if the climatic conditions are suitable it may be safely con- 
cluded that any good orchard land will be found adapted for the vineyard. 
This being true, the object of this article will be to show the favorable climatic 
conditions here existing. To those unacquainted with the meteorological 
conditions of the Pacific Coast, and especially this far inland north region, it 
may appear strange that here should be found an almost summer tropical cli- 
mate. This surprise will be greater to those who have been inclined to regard 
the degrees of heat and cold simply as so many degrees of latitude from the 
equator without taking into account the modifying influences that may inter- 
vene to ameliorate the extremes of heat or cold that would otherwise exist 
Riverside, on Snake River, is in latitude 46 degrees 25 minutes. Places on this 
parallel in the Atlantic States would have long, severe, cold winters, a short 
summer and a humid atmosphere. Here the conditions are almost reversed. 
The winters are mild and short, the summers long, hot and dry. Did space 
permit, it would be interesting to review the conditions that conspire to pro- 
duce the climatic effects, but that they exist will be shown further on. The 
culture of the grape has received more scientific study and research than any 
other fruit; through years of continued observation French savants have 
demonstrated the number of degrees, daily mean temperature, necessary to 
cause the vines to leaf out, also the number of degrees of heat necessary to 
produce the bloom and ripe fruit. It is staled for the period of a month follow- 
ing the appearance of the seeds, the mean temperature should not fall below 
66.2dcgrees Fahrenheit, and that 65 degrees is the lowest at which grapes will 
ripen, and that the mean heat of the period from the vegetation of the vine to 
the ripening of the fruit must be at least 59 degrees. That the most important 
season is twenty days prior to the ripening of the fruit, during which time the 
meandaily temperature should be 73.5 degrees. Now, to prove that the Snake 
River Valley receives sufficient heat to perfectly ripen the grape, as shown by 
the French tests given above, attention is called to the following table, com- 
piled from the report of the chief signal officer of the United States Army for 
the year 1S89. Lewiston, Idaho, situated at the confluence of the Clearwater 
and Snake rivers, is only three miles (rom Riverside, the point on Snake River 
to which particular attention is called. For the sake of comparison, several 
well-known centres of fruit growing in California are included in the list. 
From the table it will also be seen that the Snake River not only possesses the 
requisite degree of heat for the proper development of the grape in its various 
stages of growth as required in the authorities quoted above, but in this 
respect compares favorably with the most noted grape-growing sections of 
California. It may be suggested .by some that the high temperature and dry 
atmosphere which here prevail, while highly conducive to grape growing, 
might be detrimental to other fruits. Space will only permit a brief reply, and 
that is, that when the deficient rainfall has been supplemented by irrigation 



the horticulturist who desires to make a specialty of either berries, apples, 
peaches, nectarines, apricots, prunes, plums, cherries, or pears can engage in 
the enterprise with the full assurance of success. The Snake River Valley 
has already achieved a wide reputation for the fine quality of the peaches, and 
the pears will compare favoraby with those produced in the finest fruit-grow- 
ing regions of the world." 



Lewiston, Idaho.... 

San Jose, Cal 

Sacramento, Cal... 

Fresno, Cal 

Santa Clara, Cal.... 

Vacaville, Cal 

Los Angeles, Cal... 
San Diego, Cal 



April. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


August 


Sept. 


6o° 


66° 


ni c° 


81. 5 


75° 


60. i° 


59-7° 


61. 9 


66.2 


66.1° 


66.2 


67.7° 


5S.6 


61. 4 


67. 8° 


68. 3 


67. i° 


63-4° 


63. 5° 


69. 6° 


•79-5° 


82. 6° 


82. 2° 


75- 6 U 


59 8° 


61. 9 


66. 3 


64. 6° 


66. 3 


66. 9° 


61° 


64.9 


72-5° 


74-4° 


75-5° 


74-5° 


62. 2° 


62. 6° 


66.4 


70. 8° 


71.6° 


72.6 


61. 8° 


62. 2° 


64.9° 


69 


7 2° 


70.8° 



69-3° 

64.6° 

64. 4 
75-5° 
64-3° 
71-3° 
67. 7 
66.8° 



Lewiston. 

From the summit of the hill, on the Uniontown stage line, the Lewiston 
country lies, to the southward like a panorama, between 2,000 and 3,000 feet 
below. The Clearwater River crosses the foreground like a ribbon of sil- 
ver, and on the right unites with the Snake, whose yellow tide immediately 
suggests the precious metal which has been washed from its treasure-ladened 
bars by the millions of dollars, and the oddly contrasted streams, thus wed- 
ded, carry the products of hundreds of generous orchards on to the mighty 
Columbia. The deep green fringe of fruit farms and ornamental trees which 
line the opposite bank of the Clearwater widens at the confluence of the 
two streams into a richly wooded park, whose avenues are dotted with the 
splendid homes of the town of Lewiston, Idaho. Behind this rises a bluff 
from 50 to 100 feet, from which recedes a gently rolling plain for some 30 
miles to the foot of Craig's Mountain on the led and 60 miles to the Blue 
Mountains on the right. Each of these ranges runs nearly to the centre of 
the picture, where they break off abruptly, leaving a gateway through which 
the Snake River flows to the northward. On either side of the streets in 
Lewiston are rows of tall poplars, with here and there a catalpa or a spread- 
ing honey locust to break the monotony of the line. The dooryards are 
decorated with a profusion of beautiful flowers, only to be seen in the irri- 
gated districts. Among these pretty modern homes may still be found a few 
grand old monuments of pioneer days in the shape of great log houses with 
their long porches and moss-grown clapboard roofs. A few of these are still 
occupied and have neatly whitewashed split picket fences. Over the entire 
town is a network of irrigating ditches, varying from the size of small rivers 
to the tiniest streamlets. Along the larger ones are picturesque old moss- 
grown water-wheels. These are similar to the side wheel of a steamer and 
are turned by the current of the s'.ream or canal in which they are hung. 
Around the edges they have cans or buckets which carry the water up as 
the wheel revolves and discharge their burdens at the top in a trough or 
flume, with a rhythmic splash, keeping time to the squeaking of the axle, 
making a veritable orchestra. On every side is beauty, comfort and cheer- 
fulness. Lewiston seems to be exempt from all common curses. Irrigated 
orchards cannot suffer from drought. With the ten months of summer there 
are no frosts to fear. The superiority of the fruit always assures it a ready 
market in spite of the general supply and demand. And besides all this is 
the blessing of a glorious climate. 

Lewiston was settled shortly after Walla Walla, for the date of settle- 
ment runs back to 1861. The gold excitement at that time in Shoshone and 
Idaho counties was the impetus which promoted Lewiston to a city of several 
thousand. The town was named for or in honor of Captain Meriwether Lewis, 
of the famous Lewis-Clarke exploring party sent' out by President Thomas 
Jefferson in 1S03 to 1805. Ever since Lewiston has been a town it has not con- 
fined its enormous trade to the retail business. It has acted a prominent part in 
wholesaling goods to all points on or tributary to the Clearwater and Snake 
rivers. That which has been the prime factor in keeping Lewiston from grow- 
ing to a city of great importance has been the lack of railroad transporta- 
tion. However, it is a just pleasure to its inhabitants to know that the 
transcontinental lines, reaching for every branch of this prolific region, must 
acknowledge the importance of this point as a shipping centre, and treat it as 
such. Just as soon as Lewiston has trains running into the city, population 
will grow to an enormous extent, and the property embraced in the limits of 
the Garden City will be held at a high figure. The river transportation facili- 
ties are inadequate for the shipment of the products of the Lewiston fruit and 
grain belt. Visitors to Lewiston now wonder at the products of the country, 
but they are greatly surprised to know that the tributary fruit lands are not 
worked to the limit, owing to the want of railroads to carry out their products. 
Both the Northern and Union Pacific Railroad systems have lines surveyed 
into Lewiston, and there is no doubt that within a short time the Great North- 
ern will be reaching for this section. From surveys already made it is more 
than probable that Lewiston will, in the near future, be on the main line of a 
transcontinental railroad. Lewiston, similar to Walla Walla, has many wealthy 
residents, who are thoroughly devoted to their beautiful town. Substantial 
business blocks are to be found here. Lewiston may proudly boast of the hand- 
somest bank building in the State of Idaho, which is built out of native stone, 
found in the immediate neighborhood. The town is amply supplied with 
schools and churches of all denominations. It being the county seat of Nez 
Perce County, a commodious courthouse affords accommodations for the duties 
of her officials. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



It is of importance to add that less wind prevails at this point than any 
other place reported by the Signal Service. 

The timbered lands of Nez Perce County arc estimated at 200,000 acres, all 
of which is covered with the very finest lumber material. Grazing lands may 
be found in a most prolific state, and stock raising is carried on extensively 
while at the same time it is not considered a chief industry. 

The general government of Nez Perce County is carried out in a dignified 
degree, and the county in general may be classed as a typical Eastern section. 
Society is of a cultured state and her people sustain the dignity of their 
position. 

OWYHEE COUNTY. 

Following the discoveries of gold on the tributaries of the Boise River 
in 1862, an era of persistent and extensive prospecting set in, and a wild 
spirit of adventurous gold-seeking pushed the restless crowds of treasure 
hunters in all directions throughout the mountain sections of Southern Idaho. 

The prospectors of 1S63 were in search of placer gold, and while making 
their way into the fastnesses of the Owyhee Mountains found some light de- 
posits of the precious metal on a stream which they called Jordan's Creek, 
from the name of one of their number. Little satisfied with this result, they 
pushed their operations further into the mountains, where, after much fruit- 
less labor, privations, hardships and dangers, they were rewarded by the 
discovery of rich eroppings, which led to the uncovering of some of the 
richest gold and silver mines ever found on the continent, and to the open- 
ing and settlement of a large, important and interesting section of Idaho, 
which has long had its place on the map as Owyhee County. This county 
covers a large area, and has a diversified surface of mountain plains and 
valleys. It extends from the Snake River on the north to the Nevada line 
on the south, and from the Oregon line on the west to the line on the east 
which separates it from the county of Cassia. With an area of not less 
than 6,500 square miles, the county has a population of about 4,000, the 
greater portion of which is employed in mining, though the agricultural and 
stock-raising interests are very considerable. The mining districts cover a 
large mountain area, containing many very rich mines, the yield from some 
of which in the past have been almost fabulous, though in none of these 
mines have the explorations been to any considerable depth compared to 
that attained in other mining regions. Recent developments show that these 
Owyhee mines have lost nothing of their first value or of their promise of 
future productiveness. An interesting episode in the history of Owyhee 
County, and one which cannot in justice he omitted, is that in relation to 
the discovery within her borders of diamonds, opals, rubies, moss agates and 
other precious stones. 

Diamonds have not yet been found in any alarming quantities, but the 
persistent prospecting resulted in the discovery of rare and beautiful opals 
of nearly every size and character, the magnificent and flashing fire opal 
predominating. These opal beds have been found in several localities in 
Owyhee County, and scarcely a week passes that new and surprising discov- 
eries are not made. The discovery is a very important one, and it has 
already given rise to a new industry which well deserves the praise it has 
won among the resources of Owyhee County. 

The present annual output of all the gold and silver mines of Owyhee 
County is estimated at $1, 500,000, which could be indefinitely increased by a 
wise and liberal expenditure of capital. In some of the older districts recent 
developments have brought to light millions of dollars worth of good ore where 
very much lighter results w;ere expected. This is particularly true with regard 
to some of the older mines near Silver City, embracing those on the flanks of 
War Eagle Mountain. In one of the new districts, that in which the great De 
Lamar Mine is situated, the discoveries and results make it probable that the 
district is destined to equal in richness of ores and value of output those of 
he great Comstockin Nevada. Of the De Lamar Mine, Gov. George L. Shoup, 
now United States Senator from Idaho, in his report to the Secretary of the In- 
terior in the year 1S90 wrote as follows: "The latest information from the 
mines at De Lamar are of the most encouraging character. Development work 
has gone on systematically and the ore now in sight is estimated at from 
$3,000,000 to $4,000,000. Mills with improvements of the latest and best inven- 
tions have been erected. It is said that J2, 000,000 have been offered for the De 
Lamar mining system and declined. The greatest need of the place now is 
railway communication to take ore out and bring in timber and mining sup- 
plies. The present output of the mines is said to average $60,000 per month." 

Since the publication of this report something less than a controlling in- 
terest in the property has been sold to an English syndicate, and the work of 
development and improvement has been pushed on a large scale, but during 
the same time the output has been increased to between $80,000 and $100,000 
per month, more than half of which has been net profit, and a much larger per- 
centage would have been saved in profit but for the lack of railway communi- 
cation. Each succeeding month's work reveals more extensive and richer ore 
bodies and makes necessary additional improvements and facilities for extract- 
ing and crushing the ores. When it is considered that much of this ore, which 
is of such a nature that it must betaken to distant reduction works for treat- 
ment, and must be hauled by teams from 50 to 60 miles to the nearest point on 
the Oregon Short Line, the imperative necessity of railway communication is 
at once apparent. From what has already been done, and from the present 
character and outlook of the mines, an annual output in the early future of 
$5,000,000 is not an extravagant estimate or prediction. 

Great as is the mineral wealth of the county, its agricultural and stock- 
raising interests form a very important part of its resources. In 1890 Governor 



Shoup reported of improved and patented lands within the county I5,028acres, 
at an assessed valuation of nearly $109,000, and of improved lands unpatented, 
40,000 acres, valuation $82,000. These settled and cultivated lands are very 
fertile and productive, and are distributed among several large and beautiful 
valleys, the principal of which are the Braneau and the Upper Owyhee valleys. 
All these valleys are well watered, have a mild and salubrious climate and all 
the other natural advantages to make them what they are, the pleasant home 
spots of an industrious and thrifty people. Since 1890 the growth in population 
and the march of improvement have been rapid, hut in the absence of reliable 
data this increase cannot be accurately noted. Enough has been said, how- 
ever, to show that the agricultural resources of the county are all that could be 
expected or desired. Of stock raising, the Governor reported iS,ooo head of 
stock cattle, 15,000 range horses and 75,000 sheep. Since this report was made 
the progress and increase of this resource have kept pace with the advance 
made in other interests and industries. The grazing lands are almost limitless 
iti extent, the melting snows of the Owyhee range nourishing a most prolific 
growth of native grasses. A very important feature of the stock-raising indus- 
try is found in the naturaldivision of the pastoral lands into winter and summer 
ranges. On the comparatively level lands adjacent to the Snake River and its 
tributaries the peculiar species of sagebrush grows, which is known as the white- 
sage. The white sage lands cover a vast area where the snowfall is inconsid- 
erable and the winters are always mild. During winter the stock feed upon this 
white sage and keep fat, and are thus ready to move with advancing spring 
toward the foothills and mountains, feeding upon the tender young grass as it 
follows the melting snows on the flanks of the mountains. Thus large herds of 
stock have been kept upon this unrivaled natural pasture for a long series of 
years, while the pasturage itself has continued to improve, and to-day shows a 
capability of sustaining more than four times the amount of stock that is now 
being kept upon it. 

For extent of area, diversified surface, fine climate, varied and rich re- 
sources and all the conditions conducing to health and prosperity, Owyhee 
County certainly deserves to occupy a place in the very foremost rank among 
the many prosperous communities of Idaho. 

ONEIDA COUNTY. 

The resources of this county are chiefly those of agriculture and stock 
raising. There are about 60,000 acres of patented and improved lands and 
nearly 50,000 acres of unpatented lands, but which are claimed and occupied, 
and which are, to a large extent, improved and cultured. Immense herds of 
horses, cattle and sheep find excellent pasturage the year round upon the 
splendid stock range, the capabilities of which for stock raising have as yet 
scarcely begun to be taxed. The central portion of Oneida County con- 
tains the county capital, beautifully situated in a broad and fertile valley and 
surrounded by a fine farming and stock-raising country. Malad City is a 
handsome town, has excellent hotels, schools and private residences, a local 
newspaper, and holds a very large retail trade. The southeastern portion of 
the county is traversed by the Union Pacific Railway, which connects the 
railroad system of Utah with the Northern Pacific in Montana. This road 
was originally narrow gauge, but the constantly swelling volume of business 
several years ago compelled a change to standard gauge. The traffic on the 
road is now enormous and constantly increasing. The western portion of 
the county is more mountainous and less developed every way. The north- 
ern portion is traversed by the Union Pacific system, which connects the 
old line at Granger with the Oregon system. This branch of the system 
forms a very important link in one of the principal transcontinental lines of 
railway, and has been, since its completion, the favorite route of tourists 
and general traffic. The whole of the northwestern portion of this county- 
is admirably adapted to stock raising, and also embraces several well- 
watered valleys, capable of supporting a prosperous community of farmers. 
Magnificent forests of pine timber exist in the central and western sections 
of the county. The home supply of fuel and lumber in sight is ample for 
many generations to come. In the Malad Valley good indications of coal 
have been found. 

This county is a noble illustration of what industry, economy and per- 
severance under difficulties will do. The first settlers found the country an 
apparently hopeless and sterile desert; Dut faith and courage and tireless 
industry have changed the face of the erstwhile barren wilderness and 11 in- 
verted the desert like scenes into fertile farms, and prosperous and happy 
homes. Much yet remains to be done, but the same strong and noble 
qualities are inherent in the people, ami the same forces will conquer the 
remaining area to peace, prosperity and civilization. 

SHOSHONE COUNTY. 

The first advent of white occupants into the extensive mountain region 
embraced within the present boundaries of Shoshone County occurred in the 
summer of i860, when a small party of adventurous prospectors discovered 
rich deposits of placer gold on a small tributary of Oro Fino Creek, a stream 
which flows into the South Clearwater, a few miles from its junction with 
the northern branch. Thus were the first discoveries of the precious metals 
made within what is nosv the State of Idaho. At that time the entire vast 
mountain region drained by the waters of the Salmon and Clearwater rivers 
formed a part of the Territory of Washington. During the spring and sum- 
mer of 1861 placer gold was found in paying quantities on nearly all the tribu- 
taries of the Clearwater. The excitement caused by this discovery was in- 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



tense and widespread, and attracted thousands of miners and representatives 
of all classes, who are usually awakened into activity by a new gold excite- 
ment. The peopling of these mountains by thousands of eager gold-seekers 
was soon followed by the building of towns, that of Lewiston being the first, 
and by acts of the Washington Territorial Legislature creating and organiz- 
ing the counties of Nez Perce and Shoshone. During the ten years follow- 
ing the discovery the placer mines of the northern portion of Shoshone 
County yielded up many millions of dollars of yellow gold dust. Then be- 
gan the period of exhaustion, which soon left but a handful of white miners 
in the county, the bulk of the mining population being Chinese, who con- 
tinued to hold on tenaciously and worked the ground which the white min- 
ers had found unremunerative. Matters looked blue for old Shoshone 
County, but her small white population stayed with her, managed to keep 
in running order an excellent county government, and learned to supple- 
ment their resources with those of farming and stock raising on a small scale. 
The western portion of the county has quite a large area of good grazing land, 
lying perched on a broad tableland, which affords the finest summer range 
for stock, and partly on the sheltered slopes of the hills bordering the Clear- 
water, where stock can be kept in good condition during the severest win- 
ters, with but little care or extra feeding. The forests also afford an inex- 
haustible supply of the finest timber adapted to the growing demand for 
lumber, millions of feet of which are annually cut and rafted down the Clear- 
water to Lewiston and to points below. With all this, however, the histor- 
ical county would have had a hard row to hoe but for the touch of the Alad- 
din lamp which gladdened tthe eyes of the miner when the great treasure 
house of the Cceur d'Alene region was opened to his view. This presented 
him with a new field for his favorite pursuits, wherein there were unbounded 
possibilities which filled his heart with renewed courage and hope. 

Westward from the summit of the Bitter Root Mountains to the eastern 
boundary of Kootenai County and from the southern drainage slope of the 
St. Joe Valley to the Cceur d'Alene Mountains on the north, comprises the 
present great mining region of Shoshone County. This wide region of 
mountain and gulch, covered with a dense growtli of pine, fir, tamarack 
and cedar and drained by the St. Joe and Cceur d'Alene rivers and their 
tributaries, was comparatively unknown until 1884, when the discovery of 
placer gold by Prichard and his associates in the creek now bearing his 
name excited the stampede which quickly populated the valleys of the North 
and South forks of the Cceur d'Alene River with from 4,000 to 5,000 hardy 
men. The search for extensive rich and easily worked placers was not so 
successful as it had been in the old Oro Kino district of the same county, 
or in other sections of Idaho where placer gold deposits were first found, 
but the results were upon the whole satisfactory, and for many years the 
aggregate output of placer gold was enormous. The area of virgin placer 
ground in this section of the Cceur d'Alene region is yet very large, and it 
will continue to be profitably worked for an indefinite time to come. The 
discovery of galena, or what is known as lead-silver ores, was made in the 
same year on a tributary of the South Fork of the Cceur d'Alene. This was 
soon followed by the discovery of the famous Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines 
on a neighboring tributary of the same stream. This last find was of such 
extraordinary magnitude and richness as to awaken the interests of Mon- 
tana capitalists in the country, and in the ensuing years they commenced 
the construction of concentrating works and the building of a narrow- 
gauge railroad to connect the mines with a station on the Northern Pacific 
Railroad. This was the wedge which opened the marvelous treasures of 
the Cceur d'Alene to the world and which enabled it within less than three 
years to become what has since been the greatest lead-producing region in 
the United States. Since then both the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific 
companies have extended their lines into this mining region, which not only 
affords ample transportation facilities for the mines already discovered and 
worked, but which will also stimulate discovery in a region much of which 
yet remains unprospected and encourage the full development of the thous- 
ands of valuable mineral prospects now lying dormant. Since mining begun 
in this section of the county many new and flourishing towns have sprung 
up in the respective neighborhoods of the principal groups of mines. Mur- 
ray, the county seat, is situated on Prichard Creek, in the centre of the gold 
belt. The town is very handsomely situated, has a population of about 1,200, 
and is the centre of a healthy tra^le. In the lead and silver producing 
districts on the South Fork of the Cceur d Alene and its tributaries are 
found the towns of Wardner, Mullan, Wallace, Burke, Osborne, Gem and 
several others. The real wealth of the county is chiefly in its lead-silver 
mines and in the large population of industrious miners and workers of 
every class which these mines have attracted and will continue to attract 
and hold. The gold-mining industry will also continue to add an important 
item to the aggregate wealth. The drawbacks that are felt at present are 
the reduced price of lead and silver and the effects, yet felt, of recent labor 
troubles. But these adverse conditions and circumstances must, in the nature 
of things, prove only temporary and transitory. There is too much mineral 
wealth buried in these mountains, and it is too hadly needed in the cur- 
rent of trade, to permit of long delay in making it available for the use of 
the world. The magnificent forests of Shoshone County cover an immense 
area, with a practically inexhaustible supply of material for all the purposes 
for which this timber is needed. Increasing settlement and new lines of 
transportation will cirry portions of these forests for us annually, but by far 
the greater will remain as a reserve source of wealth for future generations. 

WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

Not every county in the state can present to the readers of Idaho's souve- 
nir so many varied resources as does the rich and prolific county of Washing- 



ton, which lies in the southwestern portion of the state, covering an area of 
about 3,750 square miles. The resources consist chiefly, however, of agriculture, 
stock, timber and mining. The income from either of these industries has 
proved a great factor in the building up of a most attractive and wealthy dis- 
trict. The agricultural district extends along Weiser River, where diversified 
products are grown to a high degree of perfection. The altitude of Weiser 
Valley is 2,000 feet above sea level, which adapts that section to fruit growing in 
all its branches. The climate may be judged when it is stated that corn grows 
as readily in Weiser Valley as in Illinois or Iowa. The valleys in the northern 
part of the county yield immense amounts of wheat, barley, oats and hay, the 
average production of wheat being 40 bushels per acre. Weiser Valley proper, 
in which is situated the beautiful little city of Weiser, extends along both sides 
of Weiser River for a distance of 25 miles, with an. average width of 5 miles. 
At a cost of $45,000, an irrigating canal'20 miles in length has been constructed 
on the west side of Weiser River, which supplies water for 35,000 acres of this 
matchless field. This body of land is nearly all settled with an energetic and 
progressive class of people, who have in course of cultivation teeming orchards 
of prunes, apples, etc., and all kinds of vegetables and cereals. The products 
of this district are shipped to a very considerable extent to Eastern Idaho and 
Montana points. This county is noted for its stock-feeding qualities, owing to 
the immense crops of clover and alfalfa hay that are harvested. 

The many valleys that are equally productive in Washington County can- 
not receive the amount of space that we should like to devote to them, but 
they may all be classed among the first rank of the better fruit and grain pro- 
ducing districts in the Northwest. Among these valleys are Mann's Creek, 
Middle, Salubria, Crane Creek, Indian, Council and Hornet valleysand Salmon 
meadows. Each of these valleys have an unprecedented reputation for grain 
growing and stock raising, and they are always encouraged by the good mar- 
ket that awaits the disposal of their crops and herds. It is importa.it to note 
that there is in the upper valleys of Weiser a large quantity of lands that need 
no irrigation to produce crops. Innumerable creeks not exhibited upon the 
map are tributaries to the Weiser River and supply large bodies of farms with 
the necessary irrigation for farm purposes. The grazing lands of Washington 
County are very extensive, and abound in natural grasses, upon which about 
30,000 cattle, 25,000 horses and 125,000 sheep find an abundance of wholesome 
food. The timber embraced in this county will be a surprise to many who have 
been long acquainted with the other resources of Washington, but have never 
looked into her wonderful forests of unrivaled timber. The area covered by 
this important item is 900 square miles. The quality and quantity to be found 
in Washington County is not even exceeded in the forest districts of the states 
of Washington and Oregon, and the Weiser River, which passes directly 
through the timber belt, affords a cheap means of transportation to the rail- 
road at Weiser City. 

While Washington County can present statistics on grain, fruits and tim- 
ber that will be met with envy by many older and richer sections, she presents- 
with'great pride, her mining industries as being second to but very few counties 
in the state. About 25 miles from Weiser is the mining camp of Mineral, which 
is the centre of a group of silver mines which are rapidly becoming noted and 
productive. The ores are of the smelting and concentrating classes, and are 
to be found in large bodies. The principal mines in this district are the Maria, 
Blackhawk, Boone, Silver Belle, Atlanta, Egan, Muldoon and Little Chief. The 
maximum width of the veins is over 60 feet in the Boone, 10 in the Maria and 
15 in the Blackhawk. The average assay value of the smelting ore is 50 ounces 
of silver; of the concentrating ore, 15 ounces. The facilities for the reduction 
of ores are beyond those to be found anywhere in the Northwest. The porphy- 
rite smelter, erected in 18S9, and the mutual smelter, recently completed and 
now in full operation, each have a capacity of 30 tons daily. The output for 
1890, derived wholly from the porphyrite smelter, was nearly 70,000. The total 
number of mines and claims now working are over 50. The output for 1891 was 
$150,000, and it was estimated that the Blackhawk Company would make the 
output in 1S92 reach $300,000. That which has attracted the most attention in 
mining circles in Washington County for some time is the district known as 
the Seven Devils. This is the great copper region of Idaho, and promises to 
rival the famous mines of Montana. One mine here has the largest surface 
showing of any mine in the world ; the surface outcrop is over 75,000 tons of 
copper, which assays 20 per cent. This promises to be one of the largest camps 
in the West, if not in the world. The ores carry considerable gold and silver, 
besides the copper. A projected railroad from Weiser touches this mining 
district. Coal has been found within ten miles of Weiser. Great develop- 
ments are expected, as the veins are extensive and of good quality. Several 
large bodies of mica have been found and some of the groups bounded. 

The city of Weiser, the county seat of Washington County and the natural 
centre and only outlet for the immense country tributary to it, is beautifully 
located on the north bank of the Weiser River, on the Union Pacific Railwayt 
and has an imposing site for a town. While the town is young, it ranks very 
high as a business point and is the commercial centre for a vast portion of 
country outside of the county in which it is situated. An immense mill is in 
operation at this place, and it is the supply point for a large majority of the 
larger towns in this section of the state. Weiser is well situated for a railway 
centre, and it is claimed that the only practical route for the Union Pacific to 
connect with Northern Idaho is up the Weiser River from this point. The 
amount of business for the city of Weiser was estimated last year as follows: 
Silver, $350,000; gold, $100,000; copper, $100,000 ; wool, 650,000 pounds, $90,000; 
cattle, 80 carloads shipped in May, $40,000; sheep, shipped in May, $50,000; 
horses, 15 carloads shipped in May, $12,000; barley, 250,000 bushels, $150,000; 
wheat, 600,000 bushels, $400,000; oats, 250,000 bushels, $150,000; hay, 10,000 
tons, $75,000; Total, $1,517,000. Fruits, vegetables and other products figure 
largely in the output, which have not been estimated in the foregoing figures. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




ORCHARD AT BLUE LAKES. 




SHOSHONE FALLS. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




A PIONEER SCHOOL, TAUGHT BV MRS. ELLA BEHJSNER. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 





CHIEF GERRY OF THE SPOKANES. 



MOUTH OF ST. JOE. 




BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS OF THE PAYETTE NURSERIES, 

Payette, Canyon County, W. G. Whitney, Proprietor 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




GRANGEVILLE, IDAHO. 



COTTONWOOD, IDAHO. 



IDAHO=THH GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS. 

Idaho is justly proud of the men who have added so much 
to the upbuilding of the state. In this number will be found 
a page devoted to the legislature, state and federal officers, 
and men who, by their untiring efforts, have brought credit 
not only upon themselves but upon the state. It may be no- 
ticed that there are missing biographies of a few of the legis- 
lators as well as the portrait of Hon. Willis H. Sweet, rep- 
resentative in Congress. The publisher was unsuccessful in 
his attempt to procure them, and they are therefore unavoidably 
omitted. 

Hon. W'm.J. McConnell, the present Governor ol Idaho, was born in 
Commerce, Oakland County, Michigan, on Sept. iS, 1839. His early life was 
spent upon the farm, receiving his education in the common schools and 
academies of his state, alternately teaching and attending school after he was 
sixteen up to the time he was twenty years of age. In the spring of 1S60 he 
started overland to California. Being without money upon reaching the Mis- 
souri River, he hired out to drive a six-mule team to Salt Lake City and suc- 
cessfully accomplished the feat, although he had never had his hands on a mule 
before. Fifty-three days were consumed in the trip, for which he received 
Ji per day. Arriving in California he engaged in mining during the winters 
of 1S60-61 and 1861-62 with indifferent success. He went to Portland, and meet- 
ing some farmers from the Willamette Valley who were inquiring for a school- 
teacher, he went with them into the country and engaged in teaching school 
during the remainder of the summer and following winter. He was ap- 
pointed Deputy United States Marshal under Alvord, and had charge of the 
head office in Boise City in 1S65-66. In the fall of '66 Mr. McConnell returned 
to Oregon, where he had been engaged in teaching before coming to Idaho, 
and married a young lady there and returned to Humboldt County, California, 
engaging in the cattle business for five years, after which he again returned to 
Oregon and interested himself in merchandising and in politics, soon after 
opening a large mercantile establishment in the northern part of Idaho, but 
still continuing his residence in Oregon, until 1S87, when he moved his family to 
his present home in Moscow, Idaho. He took a prominent part in the con- 
vention which framed the present constitution of the State of Idaho; went to 
Washington and assisted in securing the admission of the state, and was 
elected one of the first senators that represented Idaho in the United States 
Senate. He was there during the short term of the Fifty-first Congress, hav- 
ing secured the shortest term in drawing for place; but while there he was 
noted for his activity and the promptness with which he entered into the ques- 
tions of the day. When only a few days in the Senate, he made a speech on 
the silver question, and on the sixteenth of February, 1891, he made his memor- 
able speech on the bonded indebtedness of the Union Pacific Railroad. Mr. 
McConnell is a type of the self-made American. What he has accomplished 
he owes to his own energy and determination to succeed. He has ever proven 
himself a foeman worthy of any champion's steel, whether in debate or other- 
wise. His term of office as Governor of Idaho expires Jan. 1, 1895. 

George L. Shoup, United States Senator from Idaho, was born in Kittan- 
ning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1836. He was educated in the 
public schools of Freeport and Slate Lick. In June, 1852, moved with his 
father to Illinois, and was engaged in farming and stock raising near Gales- 
burg until 185S. In 1859 he removed to Colorado, where he was engaged in the 
mining and mercantile business until 1861. In September, 1S61, enlisted in a 
company of scouts and was soon thereafter commissioned Second Lieutenant. 
During the autumn and winter of 1861 he was engaged in scouting along the 
base of the Rocky Mountains. Was ordered to New Mexico in 1862, and was 
kept on scouting duty until 1863, and while in that territory was promoted to 
First Lieutenant. He was then ordered to the Arkansas River. In May, 
1863, he was assigned to the First Colorado Regiment of Cavalry. In 1864 he 
was elected to the Constitutional Convention to prepare a constitution for the 
proposed State of Colorado, and obtained leave of absence for thirty days to 
serve as a member of said convention. After performing this service he re- 
turned to active duty in the army, was commissioned Colonel of the Third 
Colorado Cavalry in September, 1864, and was mustered out in Denver with 
the regiment at the expiration of his term of service. He engaged in the mer- 
cantile business in Virginia City, Mont., in 1S66, and during the same year 
established a business at Salmon City, Idaho. Since 1866 he has been engaged 
in the mining, stock-raising, mercantile and other business in Idaho. He was 
a member of the Eighth and Tenth Territorial Legislatures. Was a delegate to 
the National Republican Convention in 1880. Was a member of the Republican 
National Committee from 18S0 until 18S4 Was United States Commissioner 
for Idaho at the World's Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans, La., in 
1S84-85, and was again placed on the Republican National Committee in [888 
He was appointed Governor of Idaho Territory in March, 18S9, which position 
he held until elected Governor of the State of Idaho, Oct. 1, 1890, and was 
elected to the United States Senate, as a Republican, Dec. 18, 1890, and took his 
seat December 29th of the same year. His term of service will expire March 
3. i895- 

Lieutenant Governor Willis was born at Parishville, St. Lawrence 
County, New York, Oct 10, 1S44. He was educated at the State Normal School 
at Potsdam, N.Y., and attended the Poughkeepsie Business College. At the 
age of twenty he engaged in the mercantile business at Red Wing, Minn. 
Two years later he went to Deer Lodge, Mont., and engaged in mining. In 



the fall of 1868 he moved to Bannock, Mont., and two yeais later moved to 
Lemhi County, Idaho, whore he was engaged in mining until the winter of 
1S79, when he moved to Challis, his present home, and engaged in the liv- 
ery business. For ten years he was Assessor of CusterCounty, and in the fall 
of 1S91 was made Grand Master of the Odd Fellows of Idaho. Lieutenant 
Governor Willis was elected to his honored position at the Novembei lo- 
tion, and has conducted the affairs of his office in an able and efficient 
manner. He is a great favorite among the people. 

Gen. James F. Curtis, Secretary of State for Idaho, was born in the State 
of Massachusetts, and has been a resident of the Pacific Coast States since 
1848. General Curtis has a noted military record, having served in the volun- 
teers as Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Cavalry during the War of the Re- 
bellion. During his residence in Idaho, General Curtis has acted a prominent 
role in the politics of the state, and was Adjutant General of the State, which 
gave him command of the Idaho militia during the recent mining labortroubles 
in the Ceeur d' Alene district in 1893. At the November election, General Cur- 
tis was elected, by an overwhelming majority, to the office which he so hand- 
somely fills. 

Hon. Geo. M. Parsons was born, in Cambridge City, Ind., Jan. 15, 1850, 
and was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati and Hamilton, Ohio. He 
was a soldier at fifteen years of age, enlisting and serving as a private soldier 
during the last yearof the Civil War, in Company F,One Hundred and Eighty- 
Ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He came to Idaho in 1871, and has resided 
here ever since. He was a member of the Seventh and Tenth Idaho Legislatures. 
Was Probate Judge of Alturas County, Idaho, during 1883 and 1884. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1885, and elected Attorney General of the State of 
Idaho, Nov. 8, 1892. 

Hon. Frank C. Ramsev was born in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, in the 
year 1855. He was educated in the common schools and the Iron City Business 
College. Owing to poor health, he moved to the State of Ohio in 1872, where he 
resided three years and then moved to Iowa. After spending several years there 
on a farm, he removed to Kansas and from there to Colorado, where he was en- 
gaged in stock raising. In 1S84 he decided to locate and moved to Idaho, where 
he devoted his time to the business of stock raising. He was elected to the legis- 
lature three years ago and complimented with the office of State Auditor at 
the last election. He was at one time Assessor of Cassia County, and later 
published and edited a newspaper at Pocatello. Mr. Ramsey enjoys the con- 
fidence of the entire state and makes an efficient and conscientious official. 

Hon. William C. Hill, State Treasurer for Idaho, was born in the city 
of St. Louis, Mo., in the year 1846, where he attended college until eighteen 
years of age. He was engaged in the wholesale mercantile business in that 
city from 1864 until 1870. In the spring of 1871 he moved to Denver, Co.., 
where he was engaged in the mercantile business Until the spring of 1SS3, 
when he removed to Idaho, of which state he has ever since been a resi- 
dent. Mr. Hill was elected State Treasurer Nov. 8, 1892. He has the inter- 
ests of the state at heart and makes an efficient officer. 

Prof. B. Byron Lower, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, was 
born at Liberty Mills, Ind., May 7, 1861. In 1S65 he moved to Isabella County, 
Michigan, where he was reared on a farm and attended the customary dis- 
trict school during the winter. He afterward attended the Mount Pleasant 
School, where he graduated in 1881. After three years of teaching he at- 
tended the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso for two years at 
the end of which time he graduated. He removed to Idaho in the fall of 
1887, where he has been engaged in educational circles and was recently 
elected to his present position. Superintendent Lower is very devoted to 
his duties and will undoubtedly prove a credit to himself as well as to his 
state. 

Hon. Jos. Perrault is a native of Montreal, Can. He came to the coast 
in 1864, and soon found his way to the historic old town of Lewiston in 
Northern Idaho. In 1872 he came to Boise and was assistant editor of the 
Statesman till 1878. In 1873 Mr. Perrault was appointed Territorial Con- 
troller and Superintendent of Public Instruction, which positions he held till 
1880. In 1885 he was appointed Territorial Treasurer by Gov. Wm. M. Bunn. 
In 1886 he accepted the position of assistant cashier of the Boise City National 
Bank, the duties of which position he continued to discharge till July, 18S8. 
He is at present a director of the bank. Mr. Perrault is also vice president 
of the Idaho Commercial Company, doing business at Weiser, and is a heavy 
stockholder in the Statesman Printing Company, and is interested in several 
water and irrigating enterprises for the development of the country. It goes 
without saying that he is and was always a Republican, active, aggressive and 
combative. In September, 1S89, Mr. Perrault was appointed by President 
Harrison Receiver of the United Slates Land Office at Boise City. 

Hon. Chart ks S. Kingslev, Register of the United States Land Office at 
Boise City, Idaho, was born in Portland, Ore., in 1S5S. His parental ancestors 
were early settlers in Vermont and New York. His father, Calvin S. Kings- 
Icy, was one of the pioneers of the Pacific Northwest and was a graduate of 
Ann Arbor in the class of 1849. He came to Oregon by the way of the isthmus 
and landed in Portland when it contained only very few inhabitants. In 1863 
CaiVin Kingsley went to Idaho City, in the gold fields known as the Boise 
Basin. From 1S71 to 1S77 his son Charles was kept in Michigan attending the 
high school at Ovid and later Olivette and Albion colleges. In 1877 he began 
the study of photography in the city of Baltimore. He had been a successful 
photographer until his appointment by President Harrison to the position he 
now holds. Mr. Kingsley has established his devotion to the Republican party 
during his many years' residence in Idaho. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



Hon. James H. Hawley was born in Dubuque, Iowa, Jan. 7, 1847. He 
went to California in 1861. In April, 1862, he came to Idaho, stopping first in 
Florence, Idaho County. From there, early in the spring of 1863, he went into 
Boise Basin, where he resided until 1S82. From 1882 to 1886 he resided in 
Hailey, Alturas County, moving to 'Boise City in 1886, where he has since re- 
sided. From 1862 to 1877 was engaged in prospecting and mining. He was 
admitted as an attorney to the Supreme Court of Idaho in February, 1871. 
He was a member of the lower house of the Sixth Territorial Legislature, in 
1870 ; also, Clerk of the same body in 1872. Was a member of the upper 
house during the eighth session in 1874; also, Clerk during the ninth session 
in 1876 He was a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Boise 
County in 1S76 and 1877. During the latter year he was elected District Attor- 
ney of the Second Judicial District, comprising Boise, Alturas, Custer and 
Lemhi counties, and occupied that position for four years. President Cleveland 
appointed him United States Attorney in May, 1884, and he held the position 
four years. He was beaten for the nomination for delegate to Congress in the 
Democratic Convention by Hon. John Hailey in 1884. Was again unanimously 
nominated in the fall of 1888 for delegate to Congress, but was defeated by Hon. 
Fred T. Dubois. He was married injuly, 1875, at Quartzburg, in Boise County, 
to Miss Mary Elizabeth Bullock. Was one of the first to turn his attention to 
quartz mining in Boise County, and was identified with nearly all of the early 
locations in the different districts in that county. Since January, 1890, has been 
engaged in the practice of law with William P. Reeves, Esq., with offices at 
Blackfoot and Boise City. 

Willis H. Pettit, United States Surveyor General for Idaho, was born 
June 6, 1838, on a farm near the town of Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Ind. 
his parents (David and Elizabeth Pettit) emigrating from Miami County, Ohio, 
in 1831. His early education was in the common country schools and he after- 
ward graduated at the High School in Mishawaka. On the breaking out of the 
War of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the first regiment leaving the state (the 
Ninth Infantry), served through the three-months' campaign in West Virginia 
and re-enlisted for the war in the Fourth Battery, Indiana Volunteer Artillery 
serving in all the campaigns of the Army of the Cumberland, being promoted 
to a lieutenancy in that battery in 1863. At the close of the war he settled in 
Indianapolis, Ind., engaging in business there until 1877, when hecame to Idaho, 
and engaged in the mining business until appointed United States Surveyor 
General of the state by President Harrison in 1890. 

Hon. Joseph Pinkham, United States Marshal for the State of Idaho, was 
born in Canada in 1832. He received a common school education and at the 
age of nineteen years migrated to California by the way of Cape Horn. He 
occupied his time in the Golden State by mining until 1853, when he moved to 
Oregon and spent his time in that state until 1868, when he made Idaho City, 
Idaho, his home. Here he was engaged in the mercantile and mining business. 
In 1870, President Grant appointed him United States Marshal for Idaho and 
reappointed him in 1874 to the same position. Upon the expiration of his term 
he owned and superintended a stage line through the Boise Basin. Mr. Pink- 
ham was again appointed to the office that he held twice before, by President 
Harrison. He is at present acting in that capacity and makes his home at the 
Capital City. 

Hon. David T. Miller was born, May 2, 1843, near Newark, Ohio, where 
he resided with his parents until 1852, when they moved to Union County, 
Ohio, where they lived till 1856, and then moved to Iowa. He attended the 
common school at Sigourney, Iowa, until 1861, then entered the State Univer- 
sity at Iowa City, where he remained until 1863, when he entered the army as 
a private in Company G, Fifteenth Iowa, and served until the close of the war. 
He then returned and entered the normal school, after which he engaged in 
teaching school. Then he devoted his attention to reading law, and was 
admitted to the bar at Ottimus, Iowa, in 1871. He began the practice of law 
at that place in 1872, where he resided until 1891, when he came to Idaho, in 
March, 1891, and was engaged for one year in making a preliminary survey for 
a railroad from Boise City to Butte, Mont. Returning in 1892, entered upon 
the practice of law at Boise City, and was nominated and elected by the Re- 
publican party for member of the lower house of the legislature. He was 
elected Speaker of the House with but little opposition, and after conducting 
that body of the legislature successfully, he again opened his law office and is 
now engaged in practice, and is also negotiating sales of gold mines. 

Hon. George H. Stewart was born in Connersville, Ind., in the year 
1858. He remained with his parents on a farm until he was fifteen years of 
age, when he entered the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, 
graduating from the scientific and law departments in 1880. Mr. Stewart en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession at Fowler, Ind., where he Com- 
manded a good clientage until, on account of failing health, a change of cli- 
mate became necessary. After spending some time in travel, he located at 
Stockville, Neb., where he remained until the drought of 1890, when he re- 
moved to Boise City, Idaho. In Nebraska, Mr. Stewart held the office of 
Prosecuting Attorney, and was recognized as a most vigorous and fearless 
prosecutor. He was elected to the State Senate from Ada County, Idaho, at 
the recent election, and has filled that position with honor to himself and his 
constituents. He is looked up to as an attorney of ability and influence. 

Hon. Charles Heim, member of the Idaho Legislature from Shoshone 
County, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1867. He came to Idaho in 1886 and 
settled ill Kingston, Shoshone County, where he has been engaged in lumbering 
the greater part of the time. Although but twenty-five years of age, he has 
been very active in the political struggles of his party. He is a sterling Dem- 
ocrat and was elected from the famous Coeur d'Alene country after one of the 
most bitter campaigns that section has ever known. In the legislature he has 
proved to be a faithful worker and has acquitted himself with honor alike to 
his constituents and party. 



Hon. L. E. Workman, member of the present Idaho Legislature, was born 
near Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, June 28,1862. When four years of 
age he emigrated with his parents to Iowa, where he resided for six years. 
They then changed their place of residence to Republic County, Kansas, where 
they engaged in farming. Young Workman obtained a liberal education and 
in the meantime was admitted to the piactice of law. He came to Idaho in 1890, 
and took up his residence and began practicing his profession at Idaho City. 
Mr. Workman served the people of Boise County as representative in the Sec- 
ond Legislature of Idaho in an able and fitting manner. He is liberal in his po- 
litical and religious views and pronounced in his belief of equal rights. He is 
a strong believer in internal improvement as a means of assisting the develop- 
ment of the wonderful resources of his state, and took a strong stand in aid of 
the state in the wagon-road enterprises in which the legislature of 1893 played 
a liberal hand. 

Hon. Addison A. Crane was born in Douglas County, Ore., June 16, 
1862. He was educated in the public schools of that state and the Bishop 
Scott Grammar School of Portland. Studied law in Portland, Ore , and has 
been engaged in the mining business for several years in Montana and Idaho. 
Came to Kootenai County three years ago, and located in the town of Har- 
rison, at which place he now resides. He .is a member of the present state 
legislature and an officer on Governor McConnell's staff with the rank of 
Lieutenant Colonel. Mr. Crane distinguished himself during the last session 
of the legislature, not only in the amount of work accomplished, but in the 
able manner in which he conducted his official position. 

Hon. John Merrill was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 13, 1834. 
When but a few weeks old his father and mother moved to West Virginia, 
where young Merrillwas reared until seventeen years of age. In 1831 he 
went to St. Joe, Mo, where he resided for years, after which he crossed 
the plains to Oregon. The following spring he went to Siskiyou County, 
California, remaining there till 1S61. He then went to the Oro Fino min- 
ing district and then to the Boise Basin, where he engaged in the mercan- 
tile business. After an absence of several years in California and New 
Mexico he returned to Boise County, Idaho, where he has since lived. 
Mr. Merrill is at present a member of the Idaho Legislature. 

Hon. Green White, an active member of the Idaho Senate, was 
born in Lafayette County, Missouri, July 13, 1839. In 1849 he accompanied 
his mother and grandfather to California, where he attended public and 
private school until 1855, when he spent three years at Santa Clara College. 
He read law, and in i860 moved to Walla Walla. For a number of years 
he was engaged in mining and merchandising in the Boise Basin. In 1888, 
when Elmore County was created, Mr. White was appointed Sheriff by 
Governor Stevenson. He servtd in that capacity till 1890, at which time 
Idaho was made a state and Mr. White was selected to represent his 
county in the State Senate. He was re-elected to that position in 1892. 

Hon. S. A. Anderson, member of the Idaho Legislature from Latah 
County, was born in Skaraborgs Lan, Sweden, in 1861, and emigrated to 
the United States in 1880. He located at Watonwan County, Minnesota, 
Residing in that state but a short time, he emigrated to the Pacific Coast 
following various pursuits giving him a practical knowledge of the different 
industries of the West. He settled in Idaho in 1S87, where he has since 
been engaged in the saw-mill and mercantile business. Mr Anderson was 
elected to the legislature on the Republican ticket, and served as chairman 
of the Committee on Ways and Means. He makes his home at Vollmer, 
Idaho. 

Hon. Robert Neill was born in Henry County, Kentucky. He was 
educated at the University of Kentucky. ' In 1875 he went to the Black Hills, 
passing through the hardships common to that country. He was married in 
1879, and came to Northern Idaho in 1884, where he has accumulated a 
most comfortable home. He is a member of the present legislature, which 
position he has admirably and acceptably filled. Mr. Neill is a great grand- 
son of Col. John Green of Revolutionary fame. 

Hon. D. V. Stephens is a native of Springfield, Clark County, Ohio 
where he was born, Nov. 19, 1854. In 1859 he moved with his parents to 
Kansas, where he resided for a number of years. He was for a long period 
employed in the transportation department of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe Railway. Mr. Stephens located in Idaho in 1889, near Lewiston, and has 
ever since been more or less connected with the Democratic party of the 
state. He was elected a member of the Idaho Legislature as joint repre- 
sentative for Nez Perce and Idaho counties. Mr. Stephens is an advocate 
of honest and just legislation. 

Hon. A. S. Robertson, member of the legislature from Ada and Can- 
yon counties, was born in Elgin County, Province of Ontario, Canada, Jan. 
22, 1863, of Scotch parentage. Mr. Robertson lived in Whiteside County 
Illinois, from 1866 to 1878. He went to Fillmore County, Nebraska, in that 
year, and after receiving a common school and collegiate education, removed 
in the spring of 18S2 to Arnold, Custer County, Nebraska, and organized 
the State Bank of Arnold, of which institution he became cashier, remain- 
ing as such until 1S90. During this time he took an active part in all the 
political fights in that state. Selling his interest in the banking business, he 
went to Idaho in 1890, and is at present engaged in mercantile pursuits, 
mining and investments. He was elected on the Republican ticket at the 
last election. 

Hon. J. I. MiTCHAAi was born near Lafayette, Ind., in 1849. He went 
to Nebraska in 1867, and came to Idaho in 1883. He was educated at Taber 
College, Iowa, and was a member of the Fifteenth Territorial Legislature of 
Idaho. Mr. Mitcham's extraordinary ability and the untiring interest he 
takes in the promotion of his county caused him to be elected State Senator 
from Latah County on the Republican ticket at the November election. Mr. 
Miteham is an attorney by profession. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



Hon. W.J. BoGARDwas born in Chariton County, Missouri, in 1X64. He 
received a limited country school education. Taking Horace Greeley's advice, 
he began to travel westward at the age of seventeen, and landed in Idaho in 
1S83. Since that time he lias been engaged in farming, merchandising and at 
present in mining at Rocky Bar, where he has some valuable quartz claims. 
He is in love with the Gem of the Mountains, believing it to be the paradise of 
the West. In politics he has affiliated himself with the Democrats and was 
the choice of Elmore County for representative at the last election. He has 
served his county faithfully and honorably. 

Hon. J. J. McCarthy was born in the year 1S64, in the "garden spot of 
the world," Santa Clara County, California. He spent the first years of his 
life in fruit raising and farming and in the meantime graduated with high 
honors from the Garden City Business College. In 1887 he married Miss Irene 
Pfeffer, one of San Jose's accomplished daughters, the following year started 
for Idaho, and has since resided in Bonanza City, Custer County, where he has 
been successfully engaged in the general mercantile and mining business. He 
had never mixed in politics, hut was nominated for the legislature and the 
people showed their appreciation of him, as he received over two-thirds the 
entire vole of his county, and had the honor of receiving the largest number 
of votes of any one man in the county. He has been very successful as a legis- 
lator, is as popular with the members as he is with his own people, and has 
made a record of which any young man should be proud. 

Hon. George J. Lewis, representative from Altttras County in the Sec- 
ond State Legislature, is a native of Minnesota, and thirty-two years of age 
He was educated at the university of that state and came to Idaho in 1S81 
to establish the Ketchum Keystone, which is still a prosperous weekly 
newspaper. He became assistant cashier of the First National Bank of 
Ketchum in 1SS7, cashier of the same institution in 1889, and is now 
principal of the private banking firm of George J. Lewis, doing business at 
that place. Mr. Lewis' wide range of business experience, and thorough 
acquaintance with the mining and commercial interests of his section, ren- 
der him especially fitted to represent the best interests of the state. He 
was elected to the legislature by a handsome majority, and received the en- 
tire support of the People's party for the speakership of the House. Tak- 
ing an active interest in public affairs, Mr. Lewis is a careful student of 
the political and industrial questions of the day, and promises to rank with 
Hie foremost of Idaho's representative men. 

Hon. J. M. Howe, born, April 30, 1S48, at Hanover, Oxford County, Maine, 
received an academic education at Hebron in the same state. He studied 
law two years and emigrated to Idaho in 1S69, where he has since resided. He 
was admitted to the Nez Perce County bar in 1S70 and was Register of the 
Lewiston Land Office from 1S77 to 18S5. He was elected Mayor of the city of 
Lewiston ill iSSS, and served as City Attorney in 1S91 and 1892. He was a 
member of the State Constitutional Convention, and is at present a member 
of the Idaho State Senate. 

Hon. Robert Campbell is a native of the State of Wisconsin, being 
born on a farm there in 1854. He emigrated to Idaho in 18S0, and was in the 
great Wood River country in its best days, since which time he has followed 
prospecting and mining. Mr. Campbell was always a Republican until last 
year, when he became a member of the Populist party, owing to its stand on 
silver. He was nominated and elected State Senator by the Populists in Cus- 
ter County, receiving a large majority of votes cast. 

Hon. H. H. Bangs was born in Sierra County, Calilornia, Oct. 14, 1857. 
He lived in California until he was twenty years of age, when he married and 
came to what is now Latah County, Idaho, where he has since resided. Mr. 
Bangs is a farmer by occupation. He was elected to the Second Legislature 
on the Republican ticket, to which party he is thoroughly devoted. 

Hon. Gill F. Fletcher, member of the Idaho Legislature, was born in 
New Hampshire in 1848. His parents removed to Iowa in 1S51, where he was 
raised on a farm. He was married in 1S6S, elected Sheriff of Johnson County, 
Iowa, in i8S3, re-elected in 1SS5 and again in 1887. He moved with his family to 
Idaho in 1890. settling in Bingham County, on the North Fork of Snake River, 
He was elected a member of the Second Idaho State Legislature in 1892 and 
was the father of the Fremont County division bill. Mr. Fletcher has always 
been a staunch Democrat. 

Hon. Ralph A. Cowden was born in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1865, but was 
raised at Clinton in the same state. In 1S83 he moved to Denver and engaged 
in the lumber business, and in the following year took up his residence in Cald- 
well, Idaho, where he has followed the lumber business ever since. He was 
elected joint representative, last November, of Ada and Elmore Counties. Mr. 
Cowden's business has never allowed him to mingle very much in the political 
arena, but his record as a representative was very complimentary not only to 
himself but to the counties he represented. 

Hon. R. A. Caldwell was born in Warren County, Illinois, Sept. 4, 1851. 
He has spent nearly his entire life in the stock business, and came to Idaho in 
the year 1880 to increase his capacity in that line. In 1890, when Idaho became 
a state, he was elected to the First Legislature and was re-elected to represent 
his county at the second term. Mr. Caldwell has done much to further the 
interests of the "Gem State," and his efforts are duly appreciated by the 
people. 

Hon. E. J. Turner came from the Badger State to Montana in 1866, 
where he spent five years in the mines, being more or less successful. He 
then moved to the State of Washington and settled in the vicinity of Medical 
Lake in the fall of 1871, being one of the earliest pioneers of that section. The 
failure of Jay Cooke, together with the outbreak of the Nez Perce Indians 
under Chief Joseph, caused him to remove to Southern Idaho in 1877. He is 
now proprietor of the Spring Brook Stock Ranch, one of the largest in South- 
ern Idaho, and is extensively engaged in the cattle business. 



Hon. Aaron F. Parker was horn in the western part ol England, March 
16,1856. He received a grammar school education and at the age of twelve 
years embarked in a seafaring life, which he followed for six years, being en- 
gaged in trading on the western coast of South America, in the Rio de la Plata, 
on the eastern coast, and also in the West India Islands. From 1872 to 1875 he 
was employed in the city of London. In 1S76 Mr. Parker sailed for San Fran- 
cisco, whence he finally drifted to Idaho, and for several years led a most ad- 
venturous life as miner, prospector and Indian fighter in the mountains of that 
state and Eastern Oregon. He served with the United States troops in the 
Indian campaigns of 1877-78-7933 scout, courier and guide, and also acted inci- 
dentally as war correspondent of several metropolitan newspapers. In 1880 he 
established, at Lewiston, Idaho, a newspaper called the Nez Perce News, 
which he edited with marked ability until the breaking out of the Crcurd'Alene 
excitement, when he sold the News and left for the mines. He was one of the 
first twenty-five men to enter the camp in September, 18S3, and was the original 
discoverer of the high gold-bearing gravel deposits which arc now known as 
the Old Wash Channel. In the early spring of 1884 he established at Eagle City 
the Ca-ur if Alcnc Eagle. He was also postmaster at Eagle City during the 
summer of 1884. In the spring of 1885 he again assumed control of the Nez 
Perce News, and in June, 1SS6, established the Idaho Free Press at Grange- 
ville, Idaho County, which is now one of the foremost papers in the state and a 
power for good in advertising the wonderful wealth of that great county. 
His only appearance in public life was as a member of the State Constitu- 
tional Convention, where he won golden opinions by his knowledge of funda- 
mental principles. Mr. Parker is one of the rising men of the State of Idaho. 

Col. J. E. Miller, joint senator from Owyhee and Cassia counties, was 
born in Pennsylvania, in the year 1842. He entered the Army of the Potomac 
as a private soldier in 1861, where he participated in many of the most impor- 
tant engagements, receiving successive promotions for meritorious conduct. 
During his service he was at times severely wounded, from the effects of 
which he has never recovered. In 1867 he followed the tide of emigration to 
the West, and, drifting toward the setting sun, in 1877 found himself a resident 
of the far-famed and beautiful valley of Goose Creek, in what is now Cassia 
County. Colonel Miller has stood steadfast with the land of his adoption, has 
grown with its growth, and by his great energy and attention to duty has 
done more for his constituents than any of his predecessors. 

Hon. James W. Ballantine was born in 1839, at Pittsburgh, Pa. He was 
graduated from the public schools of Pittsburgh. He entered the army as a 
private in 1S61 and was mustered out in 1865 as a Lieutenant Colonel. From 
1S65 to 1883 he was engaged in the oil-refining business in Pennsylvania In 
the spring of 1883 he came to the Pacific Coast to take charge of a mining and 
smelting business at Muldoon, Alturas County. Colonel Ballantine has taken 
an active interest in politics since he became of age. He was twice elected to 
the Pennsylvania Legislature. At the last election he was sent to the Idaho 
Legislature from Alturas County, on the Populist ticket, by an overwhelming 
majority, and endeavored to legislate in the interests of the people by reduc- 
ing expenses, in guarding the treasury as far as possible from the raids made 
by the party in power. 

Hon. G. F. Yearian was born in Perry County, Illinois, in 1S58, and in 
1S64, when only six years of age, crossed the plains with his parents with ox- 
teams to Montana. In 1872 he moved to Idaho, where he received a limited 
country school education, and is now one of the many successful miners and 
stock growers of this state. In politics he early in life affiliated with the Re- 
publican party, and was, at the November election of 1892, chosen representa- 
tive from Lehmi County, and served his district faithfully, with honor and 
credit to himself and constituents. 

Hon. James J. Story was bom in Virginia in 1S34. He went to Califoi nia 
in 1854 and engaged in mining. From there he went to Nevada in 1S73 and 
then came to Idaho in 1SS1, where he again engaged in mining. He was 
elected to the House of Representatives on the Republican ticket and served 
in that capacity during the Second Legislature. Mr. Story is at present en- 
gaged in the business of private hanking. 

Hon. H. F. McCarter was born in Grayson County, Virginia. He came 
West in 1886, to Alturas County, Idaho, and engaged in stock raising, which 
business he still follows. He received an academic education in Grayson 
County, Virginia. At the last general election he was elected to the legislature 
on the Populist ticket, by an overwhelming majority. He was formerly a 
Jeffersonian Democrat. He at present resides at Corral, Logan County, 
Idaho. 

Hon. F. C. Moss, State Senator from Ada County, was horn in Belvi- 
dere, Illinois, in 1852, and came to Wyoming in 1873, where he was engaged 
in stock raising and contracting for ten years. He moved to Idaho, and 
has been engaged in the general merchandise business at Payette for the 
past ten years. In the fall of 1892 he was the only Democrat elected from 
his county on the legislative ticket. 

Hon. T. W. Girton of Grangeville, Idaho, was born in West Virginia 
in 1832. He lived at Lay Harp, Hancock County, Illinois, until 1852, when 
he came to the Pacific Coast and visited the states of Oregon and California 
lint 1 1S61. He then came to Oro Fino, Idaho, and engaged in mining until 
1869. He located on a ranch near Grangeville, Idaho County, and at present 
is engaged in stock raising. He was elected to the Eleventh Territorial 
Legislature, and was later elected to the Second State Legislature on the 
Democratic ticket by a large majority. He was engaged in mining and 
prospecting, and discovered the famous Lemhi Mine, in Lemhi County, in 
1866. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



Hon. Fred T. Dubois, United States Senator for Idaho, was born in Craw- 
ford County, Illinois, on the twenty-ninth of May, 1851. His father, Jesse K. 
Dubois, familiarly known throughout the state as "Uncle Jesse," was one of 
President Lincoln's warmest friends, and had it not been for the President's 
assassination, would have held a cabinet portfolio during the President's second 
term. The subject of this sketch was the youngest son of the family, and in- 
herited in a large measure his father's political proclivities, and even as a boy 
displayed marked ability in the management of local politics in Springfield. 
Every care was bestowed upon his education, and after a thorough training in 
the public schools of Springfield and special courses under private tutors, he 
was sent to Yale, from which college he was graduated in 1872. After his re- 
turn from college he went to Chicago and accepted a clerkship in a wholesale 
house, where he remained until appointed to a position in the State Auditor's 
office in Springfield. This appointment again brought him into politics, and 
gave him prominence in political affairs in that section, and it was not long till 
he was appointed Secretary of the Board of Railway and Warehouse Com- 
missioners in Illinois. In 1880, he started for Idaho, reaching Blackfoot in 
August. He was appointed United States Marshal of Idaho in 1882. This 
office he held until September 1, 1886. ' He was made a successful candidate 
for delegate to the Fftieth Congress by both Republicans and anti-Mormons. 
Mr. Dubois was re-elected to the Fifty-first Congress over James H. Hawley 
and Judge Black, and his term of office expired March 4, 1891. He was com- 
plimented with being chosen one of the first United States senators to repre- 
sent the Gem State in Congress. He is at present acting in that capacity 
and his efforts are applauded by the citizens of his state. Mr. Dubois must 
be credited with being a most prominent figure in the admission of Idaho 
as a state. 

Col. John Green.— In illustrating the old fort of Boise Barracks, and 
speaking of the early history of Idaho, which includes the famous Bannock and 
Nez Perce Indian wars of 1877 and 1878, it would be unjust to omit the name of 
that gallant and popular soldier, Col. John Green, United States Army, retired. 
Although a retired army officer at present, Colonel Green spent forty-three 
years of his life in active service, having risen from the ranks to a commander 
.of a regiment and engaged in many a hard- fought battle. Colonel Green was 
born in Wurtemburg, Germany, in 1S25, and came to America at the age of 
seven years. His father worked a farm in Ohio, where young Green assisted 
him. This occupation did not suit the young man and he sought other em- 
ployment, when he came in contact with a recruiting officer for a mounted rifle 
company which was to make a trip to Oregon. Green enlisted, and from that 
time dates his military record. He was active in the Mexican and the late Civil 
War and the Indian wars in the various parts of the United States, of which 
Idaho had her share. Colonel Green has been stationed at several Western 
posts, but Boise Barracks has long been his headquarters, and after his retire- 
ment he adopted Boise City as his home. Colonel Green is not only a favorite 
among the soldiers, but his society is sought by the best citizens within his vi- 
cinity. 

Hon. Stephen A. Fenn was born near Watertown, Conn., March S, 1820. 
His father moved with his family to Western New York in 1824. He received 
an academic education and studied law in Buffalo, N. Y. He removed to Iowa 
in 1844, where he was married in 1847. Went to California, "across the 
plains," in 1850, where he was joined by his wife two years later. Came to the 
Salmon River mines, then in Washington Territory, in July, 1862, making his 
home in Florence, Idaho County. He practiced law and served one term as 
District Judge in Nez Perce County and was appointed first Register of the 
United States Land Office in the Lewiston district in 1867. Mr. Fenn repre- 
sented Idaho County several times in the legislature, serving as Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and later as President of the Council In 1874 he was 
elected a delegate to Congress from the Territory of Idaho and re-elected two 
years later. He retired from active political life at the close of his second term 
in Congress and lived on his farm in Idaho County. He suffered a stroke of 
paralysis in 1889, from which he never recovered, and died Dec. 9,1892. 

James H. Wallis, editor of the Post, was born at London, Eng., on the 
thirteenth day of April, 1861, a few hours after the first gun was fired on Fort 
Sumter, at the opening of the Civil War. His boyhood was spent in the 
Tower of London, where his father occupied a position under the English 
Government, and of which historical place his grandfather held the important 
office of turnkey. Mr. Wallis came to the United States in 1881, arriving in 
Salt Lake City, Utah, on the fifth day of May of that year. He was editor of 
a newspaper when he was twenty years old, and has owned three newspapers 
since that time. While editing the Nephi (Utah) Ensign, he was arrested for 
libel. He founded the Provo (Utah) Morning- Dispatch, the first paper in 
Utah to leave the People's party and come out squarely for division and the 
Democratic party. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Juab County, 
Utah, when but twenty-seven years of age, being a successful lawyer as we, 
as a bright journalist. Before he was twenty years of age he had written over 
100 poems, of great merit, and Tullidge in his "History of Utah" refers to him 
as the "Boy Poet of Utah " Mr. Wallis is a devoted disciple of Jefferson, and 
one of the brightest Democratic editors in the State of Idaho. He was manag- 
ing editor of the Ogden (Utah) Baity Post before moving to Montpelier. He 
is a member of the Mormon Church, occupying the ecclesiastical position of a 
"seventy," and it was his faith in his religion that induced him to leave his 



native country and gather with the main body of the church. He was married 
when twenty years of age, to Miss Elizabeth Todd of London, and has an 
interesting family of eight children as a result of their happy union, four boys 
and four girls. Mr. Wallis is a self-taught man, never having been to school 
since he was nine years of age. His parents were poor and he has had to 
work for his own living since that time. 

Hon. John C. Greaves, member of the legislature from Oneida County, 
was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1855. While quite young he moved with 
his parents to Logan, Utah, and lived with them until he reached the age of 
twenty-two, at which time he married the daughter of C. W. Card, one of the 
pioneers of Cache Valley. Mr. Greaves having learned the carpenter trade, 
followed that pursuit for eight years. Having a desire for more room and land 
than could be acquired in the city, he with his wife and three small children 
moved to Preston, Oneida County, Idaho, his present home. Here he was 
elected Precinct Justice of the Peace and succeeded himself two years later. 
He is now, and has been for the past four years, Postmaster at Preston, and is 
also engaged in the merchandise business at that place. 

Hon. Frank A. Fenn was born in Nevada County, California, Sept. 11, 1853. 
He came to Idaho with his father's family in 1862, and has made it his home ever 
since. He was educated in the public schools of the territory and at the United 
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., having been appointed a naval cadet 
by Hon. J. K. Shafer, delegate in Congress, in 1S69. Mr. Fenn returned to 
Idaho in 1865 and engaged in teaching, and later in farming and stock raising. 
He was elected a member of the Territorial House of Representatives in 1SS6 
from Idaho County, and was also a member of the First State Legislature, serv- 
ing as speaker of the .House. Since that time he has been engaged in the State 
Land Department. 

Hon. J. G. Watts was born in Wellsboro, Pa., July 23, 1858. He lost his 
father in the Civil War in April, 1865. He was educated at the Soldiers Or- 
phan School and State Normal School at Mansfield Pa., and taught in the 
public schools for five years and in Petersburg, 111., three years. Mr. 
Watts studied law in the office of F. W. McNeely at Petersburg, III., while 
teaching there, and was admitted to practice at North Platte, Neb., April 1, 
1886. He practiced in Nebraska four years, the last two at Omaha; came to 
Idaho in July, 1890, and located at Idaho City. He was elected to the State 
Senate from Boise County at the November election in 1892. 

Hon. H. F.Johnson was born in Indiana, Nov. 2, 1830, and removed to 
Missouri when but a small boy. He lived in Carthage, the county seat of 
Jasper County, until May 1, 1853, when he started across the plains for Ore- 
gon with an ox team. He reached Fosters, across the Cascade Mountains, 
the second day of October. He settled in Lane County in the spring of 1854. 
The following fall he went to the mines and has been engaged in mining 
and prospecting more or less ever since. Mr. Johnson came to Idaho in April, 
1884, and has been prospecting in the state since that time He was a Re- 
publican in politics up to Hayes' election, when he left both the old parties, dis- 
gusted. When the People's party came to the surface he joined it and was 
nominated at theparty convention for State Senator from Washington County, 
and was elected by a handsome majority. 

Hon. W. Clevenger, member of the legislature from Payette, Ada County, 
Idaho, was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, in 1858, and came to Norlh- 
ern Missouri in 1865, where he was raised on a farm. He came to the Stale 
of Idaho in 1882 and engaged in stock raising and the lumber business. He 
was elected to the Second State Legislature from Ada County as a Republi- 
can by a large majority. 

Hon. J. S. Barrett, member of the legislature from Montpelier, Bear Lake 
County, Idaho, was born in London, Eng., Feb. 8, 1854. He came to Amer- 
ica in 1864 with asisterand mother, his father having died when he was but 
four years old. He took up a home in Utah with friends of his parents and 
served as chore boy on a farm for a number of years; then accepted a po- 
sition as teamster for a freighting outfit. Soon afterward he was placed in 
charge of the outfit, with an office near Salt Lake City. He was married in 
1S76, and since that time has followed school teaching and acted as manager 
for a mercantile and contracting company up to 1888, when he embarked in 
business for himself at Montpelier, Idaho, where he now lives He has oc- 
cupied various public positions and enjoys politics, although not a professional 
politician. 

Hon. H. H. Clay, the representalive from Logan County, Idaho, was born 
in Lake County, Illinois, within a short distance of the present location of 
the World's Fair, in 1855, and came to Idaho in 1879. Mr. Clay is a Repub- 
lican in politics, was a member of the Fifteenth Territorial Legislature and 
is a member of the Second Legislature of the State of Idaho. His popular- 
ity is such that he was the only Republican member elected from Logan 
County. He is at present engaged in the mercantile and mining business at 
Bellevue. Mr. Clay is the owner of the Redwing and Gate City mines, which 
he has bonded for Jio,ooo. 

Hon. Fred. L. Burgan was born in Bluffton, Ind., Jan. 1, 1S64. He grad- 
uated from the Bluffton High School in 1883, and commenced the practice of 
law, in 1887, in Bluffton. He moved to Cceur d'Alene, Idaho, and opened a 
law office there in April, 1890. He was one of the founders of the Cceur 
d'Alene Press in February, 1892. He was elected on the Republican ticket 
to the Second Idaho Legislature, and was a hard worker in the interest of 
his section of the state. He is a man of energy, and has every prospect of 
a bright future in the State of Idaho. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




CANYON ABOVE GREAT SHOSHONE FALLS. 






GREAT TWIN FALLS, SNAKE RIVER. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




OFFICERS' ROW, FORT SHERMAN. 




STOCK RANCH ON THE ST. JOE RIVER, KOOTENAI COUNTY. 



STATE OF IDAHO 




IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



IDAHO FALLS. 



The Centre of a Rich and Prolific Irrigated 
District. 



RESOURCES OF A MAGIC CITY. 



The accompanying map, showing the wonderful canal sys- 
tem, and the engravings illustrating the magnificent buildings 
at Idaho Falls, will portray to the person who may glance at 
this souvenir what this town is at present and what may be her 
chances for the future. But we deem it necessary to publish a 
few statements giving the resources of a young city that has 
become famous and gained complimentary notoriety in more 
ways than one. Idaho Falls is situated in the eastern part of 
the "Gem State," at the point where the Union Pacific Railway 
crosses Snake River, which will be seen by reference to the 
map of the entire state, printed in this number. It is about 
midway between Denver, Col., and Portland, Ore., and is 
but 72 miles from America's great Yellowstone Park. It is 
also situated upon the great "thermal belt" around the world, 
strange as it may seem, upon which are located all the most 
populous and enterprising cities in the world. 

The climate within the vicinity of Idaho Falls is equal to 
any in Idaho, which, as is shown by statistics in this work, is the 
best in the world. 

While we could refer the reader to the special article on 
Bingham County, in which the town is located, for general in- 
formation, it will be well to refer slightly to the stock-raising 
and agricultural industries tributary to the Falls city. At pres- 
ent, stock raising — cattle, horses and sheep — is the chief 
industry. This is carried on very extensively, as the grasses 
here are par excellence. Agriculturists are, however, crowd- 
ing into this country, and with the extension of the immense 
system of canals and ditches, every acre of the land under 
them will be in the hands of industrious farmers, and what 
can now be entered at a nominal price as government land, 
will, with the water, be worth from $20 to $100 per acre. 

In the vicinity of this rapidly growing city may be found 
immense quantities of timber, coal and stone. The coal 
veins in the Snake River Valley, not many miles distant, run 
from 9 to 22 feet in thickness. About six miles to the 
east of Idaho Falls there is an immense volcanic deposit 
known as the "Red Rock Quarry." This rock is of a beautiful 
desired red, and can be cut with common edged tools into any 
shape, when first extracted, but after being exposed to the air 
for say three or four weeks, it becomes hard as granite and has 
a resistance of 22 tons to the cubic foot, or about two tons 
greater than ordinary pressed brick. It has been said that 
this quarry contains enough of this handsome red stone to 
build a city the size of Chicago. 

The land here is excpetionally prolific. There are to be 
seen fields of wheat to yield from 60 to 80 bushels per acre, 
oats and vegetables in proportion, and alfalfa, three cuttings, 
aggregating from seven to ten tons per acre. 

Two bright and spirited newspapers the Times and the 
Register, are published at Idaho Falls, samples of which may 
be had upon application. 

The water power at Idaho Falls is estimated by the United 
States Government Engineer at 126,000 horse power, or 
more than double the water power at Spokane Falls, Wash. 
This has partially been utilized and now turns the wheels of 
the immense patent roller flouring mill located here. Numer- 
ous factories are figuring upon locating here, owing to the 
capacity of water power and the cheerful outlook for Idaho 
Falls to become a great city. 

The people of this prosperous town are responsible for its 
unparalleled promotion. They are thrifty, enterprising, and 
encourage all deserving propositions, no matter how small or 
large. 

Many fine building's may be seen located at Idaho Falls. 
The handsome Teton Hotel, the stately Odd Fellows Orphans 
Home, the commodious High School building, the immense 
mercantile houses of the Consolidated Implement Company, 
Anderson Bros, and the Co-operative Wagon and Machine 
Company, the Idaho Falls Roller Mills, etc., all add to the 
metropolitan appearance of this magic city. The Governmen- 
tal Experimental Farm and the United States Signal Service 
Station for Idaho are located here. 



The location of canals for irrigating purposes is most ad- 
mirably chosen and capable of furnishing an abundance of 
water to cover from 500,000 to 5,000,000 acres, only requiring 
to be extended. The water, which is obtained from Snake 
River, is of immense quantity and, at the present ordinary 
flow, sufficient to irrigate 500,000 acres, and the storing 
facilities for irrigating 5,000,000 acres are almost limitless 
on the Upper Snake, at a nominal cost. There are 2,500,- 
000 acres of valley land surrounding Idaho Falls which is all 
available for agriculture; and when it is understood that 
no country in the world that depends upon natural rainfall 
can begin to compare with the country that depends upon 
irrigation, what may be expected of the future of Idaho 
Falls? Over $1,000,000 has been expended during the last 
two years in building canals near this town. Men of influence 
and capital have become interested in the irrigation of this 
district, which speaks well for continued prosperity in the Idaho 
Falls country. The statement which follows shows 300 miles 
of mains in operation or in course of construction near Idaho 
Falls: 



Estimated number 





















O 
O 






: 
: 




wild land 


IT 


















O 







cultivated in 1892. 


« 


IT 


10 


(■*■ 


N 






















n 


O 








O 








Acres under culti- 


O 
O 


O 
O 










O 
O 





m if 


O 


c<- 


O fO 


vation 






CN 




v 




CO pQ « 1- 


r> 


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_ 










O 


O O 











Acres of land under 


O 
O 


O 
O 









O 


c 











vo 


S 


canal. 




O 





10 


10 v 


O tN 


0\ u 


> °° 


VO 


m 






H. 


















Tt 


— 


Number 


of miles 








10 »o 10 c 




CO 


(N CT 


completed. 


\o 


co "tf 1 














<N 




















c 





: 


















c 


c 


c 






















c 


c 




Cost of con. ! ruction 












O 


u-) \n O rj- c 


"O 


: 








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</* 
















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r 


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c 


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c 


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Capital stock. 


c 


C 





c 











: 





























fe* 








































: </» 


Depth capacity, 
























number of feet. 


\n \c 


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c 
vc 




















Width 


at bottom. 




r 






vn 10 O c 


fl 







number of feet. 


Th ■£ 


■■*■ 


"* r* 


w C 


1 CO CO ro C> 












-* 


















Length, 


completed, 


O 


c 


10 


C 


c 


IO IO IO O *- 


a 


w •-" 


miles. 




G\ 10 <* 


Q\ tv 










ro 










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Of 














: 












en 




















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e 


i § 


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s 

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; 
u 

c 

c 


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> £ 


' -a 

c 

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i * 

' 

: & 


c 

I 


J a 


a t 
I § ■! 

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- § ] 

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n r 

en v. 


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5 \ 


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"- 1 C 








c 


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-. 1-. 1 

1 3 < 


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* Complete figures not obtainable regarding the smaller canals. 
|| Including three branches, 12 to 16 (eet at bottom, 2 to 3 feet deep; to be 
completed next July. 

The projected railroads connecting the Falls are the ex- 
tension of the Chicago & Northwestern from Fort Casper, in 
Wyoming, to Boise City, and the Pacific Coast on the west, 
and the proposed branches of the Union Pacific system to the 
Yellowstone Park and the line to Challis and Salmon City to 
the northwest. 

The Union Pacific system — the Oregon Short Line and the 
Utah & Northern branch — now supplies all railroad facilities to 
Idaho Falls running north and south over the only practicable 
rail route afforded by the configuration of the country for over 
500 miles each way between the northern and southern bound- 
aries of the United States. 

In conclusion, it would require a visit to Idaho Falls to be- 
come thoroughly acquainted with her unlimited resources. 
Correspondence is solicited, and information will be cheerfully 
rendered by 

R. Rounds, 
Secretary Board of Trade, Idaho Falls, Idaho. 




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UPPER SNAKE RIVER VALLEY 

ANDTHECOUNTRYTRIBUTARY TO 

IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO, 



SHOWING 5Y5TEH OF IRRIGATION CANALS 




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CCEUR D'ALENE CITY. 



5^ \l/iseoi75ii7 Central lir^s 



N. P. R. R. CO. LESSEE 








The 

World's Fair 
Route... 



ANDING passengers at the 
Grand Central Station, 
CHICAGO, from which 
Station passengers can 
take trains for WORLD'S 
FAIR GROUNDS. The Grand Cen- 
tral Depot also contains 200 rooms 
for guests, and is the most elegant 
Railroad Station in this country. 




FOR DETAILED INFORHATION 
CALL ON OR ADDRESS 



C. E. STONE 

Passenger and Ticket Agent 
ST. PAUL, MINN. 



JAS. C. POND 

General Passenger and Ticket Agent 
CHICAGO, ILL. 

4x2 0*1 m rT7 
i . T \ fX" IX\ 1 41 



The Wisconsin Central Line =The World's Fair Route 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 



THE UNION PACIFIC SYSTEM. 



A Description of the Main Line and Branches, 
Junction Points, Connections, Trains and Equip= 
ment. 

This great national highway is so well known, not only 
throughout the United States, but all over the world, 
that a mere reference to it would seem sufficient; yet for 
the benefit of those who have never had the pleasure of 
riding over its smooth track, and thus had an opportu- 
nity of gazing upon the fine scenery along its route, the 
following description is given: 

It formed a part of the first transcontinental line of 
railroad from ocean to ocean, and was conceived, and 
its construction authorized, as a war measure, the needs 
of the government during the War of the Rebellion having 
clearly shown the necessity for it. When first talked of 
many thought the feat of constructing a line of railroad 
over the Rocky Mountains an utter impossibility. Many 
of those who had crossed the plains, deserts and moun- 
tains to California in '49-50 knew very well a railroad 
could not be built there, for "How could a locomotive 
ascend a mountain where six yoke of oxen could scarcely 
haul a wagon?" It must be remembered that the line 
of this road follows almost exactly the old emigrant 
wagon road, not only on the plains on the north side of 
the Platte River, through the State of Nebraska, but in 
fact all the way to Ogden, in Utah Territory. In the 
days of '49-50, when long trains of gold seekers, after 
outfitting at Council Bluffs, wended their way over the 
plains, the country was filled with hostile Indians, herds 
of wild buffalo, deer and antelope. There was scarcely 
a house west of the Elkhorn River, within 20 miles of 
Omaha. Now the traveler sits in a luxurious Pullman 
car, and is whirled over the smooth railroad at 60 
miles an hour, past villages, towns and cities filled with 
active, busy, intelligent people, and as far as the eye can 
reach on either side of the road farms join each other. A 
million and a half of people live in the State of Nebraska, 
through which the road runs. 

The last spike, making the union of the two roads, the 
Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, was driven at 
Promontory, just beyond Salt Lake, in May, 1869. 

Years have demonstrated that this grand road was 
most wisely and skillfully planned. There is no other 
line to-day possessing its peculiar advantages, and there 
can never be a railway constructed across the continent 
like it, for the simple reason that the Union Pacific occu- 
pies the very best belt of country obtainable. There is 
immunity, on the one hand, from the blazing suns and 
stifling alkali dust of the Southern deserts; and on the 
other, the lightest possible snowfall to be encountered 
on the mountain summits. It is the natural highway, 
either for summer or winter, spring or autumn, and it 
must forever remain so. No amount of specious reason- 
ing can shake the solid fact that the Union Pacific line is 
the one railway across the continent unassailable by sum- 
mer heat or winter storms. 



This railway, "The World's Pictorial Line," is one of 
the very best on this continent. Its four main stems, 
one from Kansas City, one from Leavenworth, one from 
Sioux City, and one from Council Bluffs and Omaha, 
uniting at Cheyenne and diverging again at Green River, 
one for Portland and one for San Francisco, are crowded 
with the commerce of the Orient and the Occident, while 
people from every nation in the world may be seen on 
its passenger trains. Every improvement which human 
ingenuity has invented for the safety or comfort of the 
traveler is in use on the Union Pacific; Solid Vestibuled 
Trains, Pullman Palace Sleeping and Dining Cars, Re- 
clining Chair Cars, Colonist Sleeping Cars and Union 
Depots. These magnificent trains are lighted with the 
very latest invention in railway car illumination, the 
Pintsch Gas Light System. For nearly 500 miles west 
of Council Bluffs and 700 miles west of Kansas City 
there are no heavy grades or curves. The Pacific Hotel 
Company manage the eating-houses, under the super- 
vision of the railway company, and no better meals are 
to be found on any railroad in the United States. A lux- 
urious dining-car service is maintained from Kansas City 
and Omaha to Denver, and from Omaha to Portland 
and San Francisco. 

Crossing the Missouri River from the transfer depot, 
Council Bluffs, over a magnificent steel bridge of 11 
spans, 75 feet above the water, each span 250 feet long, 
resting upon immense stone piers, Omaha is reached, 
or, crossing the Missouri River at Sioux City over a fine 
steel bridge, thence to Columbus, Neb., and 

THE TRIP ACROSS THE CONTINENT 

to either Portland or San Francisco commences. Leav- 
ing Omaha, the metropolis of Nebraska, with a popula- 
tion of 150,000, the road follows the Platte River through 
the thickly settled and fertile Platte Valley and cresses 
mile after mile of level country, as impressive to those 
unfamiliar with such scenes as is the unbounded level of 
the ocean. 

Fremont, 47 miles west of Omaha, is a city of 6,665 
inhabitants. Columbus, 45 miles further on, has 3,950 
people. Grand Island, 62 miles further west, has 8,000 
people; 40 miles further west is Kearney, with 8,600 in- 
habitants. North Platte, 291 miles west of Omaha, with 
3,134 inhabitants; Sidney is 123 miles further, with 1,412 
people, and has a large military post, and next is Chey- 
enne (516 miles from Omaha), the capital of Wyoming, 
population 12,744. At this point the Kansas Main Line 
via Denver connects with the Nebraska Main Line from 
Council Bluffs. 

Leaving Kansas City, population 132,416, situated at 
the junction of the Kaw or Kansas River with the Mis- 
souri, via the Kansas Main Line of the Union Pacific 
System, one passes through some of the finest farming 
land of the West and a succession of thriving cities and 
towns. And so it may be told of every branch of the 
Union Pacific. They traverse the scenic, agricultural, 
horticultural and mining centres of the United States, 
and the equipments are such that every comfort is 
afforded to the traveler to visit a new and prosperous 
country. 



IDAHO=THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 




TO ALL 



IDAHO POINTS 



TAKE THE 




WORLD'S PICTORIAL LINE 



WORLD'S PICTORIAL LINE 



UNION PACIFIC 



it 



THE OVERLAND ROUTE 




GREAT SHOSHONE FALLS, IDAHO — reached only via the Union Pacific System. 



To Denver 

Colorado Springs 

Pueblo 

Ogden 

Salt Lake City 

Boise City 

Butte 

Helena 

Spokane 

Portland 

Tacoma 

Seattle and 

San Francisco 



THROUGH 



For tickets and full 

PULLMAN PALACE SLEEPERS ? IST^^ ".." 

PULLMAN DINING { Ticket Agent. 

CARS 



Pullman Colonist Sleepers 
and Free Reclining Chair Cars 




S. H. H. CLARK 

President 



E. DICKINSON 

UlliOn DepOtS FaSt Time General Manager 

c . . c E. L. LOMAX 

Finest oCenery Gen'l Pass. & Ticket Agent 

Pintsch Light Steam Heat onAHA ' NEB ' 



©Ml© 



THE GEM OF THE' MOUNTAINS" 



CAN- BE VISITED BY TAKING 






The Wonderland Route 



-*^ 



NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD 




Daily 

Through 

Trains — ^ICAGO 






NONE BETTER 




TO ALL PROMINENT POINTS IN THE 



West 



• • 



THE BEST DINING 



AND 



FINEST SLEEPING CARS 



STOP AT 



Yellowstone Park 

THE NATIONAL PLEASURE RESORT 



A better trip than this and through to the Pacific Coast cannot be 
devised as a suitable companion to a visit to the World's Fair. 
Full information as to rates, etc., can be obtained by calling at 
the offices of the Northern Pacific and Wisconsin Central Lines in 
Chicago or addressing 



J. M. HANNAFORD, 

General Traffic Manager, 

ST. PAUL, MINN. 



CHAS. S. FEE, 

General Passenger and Ticket Agent, 
ST. PAUL, MINN. 




IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY, MOSCOW. 



▼ < 



WA 

LlBR ARY OF CONGRESS 





017 061295 4 




*.->. 






